Ban on doctors’ private practice
On Wednesday last week, October 11 2017, the Federal Government announced at the end of the Federal Executive Council [FEC] meeting that doctors working in public hospitals will no longer be allowed to simultaneously engage in private practice. Minister of Health Prof Isaac Adewole, who announced the decision, said FEC decided to look into the […]
On Wednesday last week, October 11 2017, the Federal Government announced at the end of the Federal Executive Council [FEC] meeting that doctors working in public hospitals will no longer be allowed to simultaneously engage in private practice. Minister of Health Prof Isaac Adewole, who announced the decision, said FEC decided to look into the issue of private practice by medical doctors in the public sector and that a committee was set up to look extensively into the issue. He said the decision became important because of the worrisome development in the health sector.
Government, he said, was desirous of resolving the issue in accordance with the law of the land and the ethics of the medical profession. Adeoye added that the law of the land does not allow any public officer to engage in any practice other than farming while he or she is in the employ of government. He said the committee that was set up to look into the matter would make appropriate recommendations to government on the issues which he said are of considerable interest to Nigerians.
Reactions from the medical profession were understandably hostile. President of the National Association of Resident Doctors [NARD] Federal Medical Centre, Abuja Dr Emmanuel Obayi described the federal government’s ban as “an expensive joke comparable to a time bomb waiting to explode.” He raised many issues with the ban, including that it has potential of driving many doctors out of public hospitals and into private ones because they have better remuneration, better facilities and better working conditions. According to Obayi, poor citizens will be worse off because they are the ones catered for by doctors in public hospitals. Accusing government of losing focus as to the real problems of the health sector, Obayi also said doctors in the public sector “are rarely derelict in their duties” and that consultants among them not only provide high quality medical service to patients but they also teach resident doctors and graduate them every year. He said if doctors in the public sector are paid what obtains in other countries, they would not engage in private practice.
Also reacting to the ban, Chairman of Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association Dr. Olubunmi Omojowolo said the ban needs some clarification. He said though the law does not permit doctors in public hospitals to own private hospitals, they could however offer specialised services to private hospitals when required. He said, “Are you saying that specialists working for government cannot be invited by private hospitals when they have emergency or need a specialist in that area to see the patient? Are you saying that all patients that require specialist care who are admitted in private hospitals will have to be moved to public hospitals?”
Our view on this matter is that even though government is merely trying to implement a rule that has always been in the books, the timing of the announcement is suspect because it comes in the heat of another round of industrial crises with the doctors. This attempt at enforcement also comes with serious implications. It is not for nothing that even though this law has always been in existence, governments at all levels turned a blind eye over many decades while doctors in public hospitals engaged in private practice. A lot of abuse however seeped in along the way because some doctors openly redirect patients from public to their private clinics. Such doctors also devote more time and attention to their patients in private clinics than to the hapless ones in public hospitals.
Everything considered, we advise government not to go ahead with this ban but to instead revise the rule with respect to private practice by doctors in public employment. It should then work together with NMA, Medical and Dental Council and other bodies in order to check excesses and enforce a new, more realistic rule.