The Chief Medical Director of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Prof. Chris Bode, has called for a united health workers force across the country to deliver qualitative healthcare service.
Bode made the call Wednesday during the Annual Scientific Conference put together by the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), LUTH chapter, in Lagos.
Theme of the conference was: “Inter-Professional Rivalry within the Health Sector; Working Out Practical Solutions.”
“In order to deliver qualitative healthcare service to all sectors and to the populace, health workers need to work in harmony.
“Inter-professional rivalry is a very important topic because presently in the country, there are various groups competing and rivaling each other and the health sector is not spared.
[penci_blockquote style=”style-2″ align=”none” author=””]“So, no matter how small the groups are, it is best for all to work together in harmony and in the interest of patients,’’ Bode who was represented by Prof. Olufemi Fasanmade, Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), said.[/penci_blockquote]
“A situation where health sector is divided into two groups, such that the doctors are on one side and other groups on the other side, it won’t go well.
“Because, if they finish fighting the doctors and the doctors are nowhere to be found, the other group members will have their own rivalry to contend with.
“So, no matter how small the groups are, it is best for all to work together in harmony and in the interest of patients,’’ Bode who was represented by Prof. Olufemi Fasanmade, Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), said.
He said that the country needed to heal the cracks and divisions within the medical field for effective team work.
Bode said that government should take cognizance of the inputs of various sectors and remunerate each group specifically.
“The reason we are jostling for position is because of the poor state of the country’s economy.
“So, everybody feels if I can go and fight for increase, my condition will be better and when this is done, other groups will also want to fight for their own.
“It’s the same problem we are also having in the university system, where you have Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on one side and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU).
“It is not only in the health sector, it is everywhere; it is because of increasing level of poverty and people are struggling for the little resources that are available,’’ he said.
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The President of ARD-LUTH, Dr Olawale Oba, speaking at the event said that inter-professional rivalry was not only rife, but has become the order of the day within the nation’s healthcare sector.
“The health sector, giving its organisational hierarchy, as well as multiplicity of skills, is inadvertently prone to inter-professional rivalry and conflict within the system.
“But the direct consequence of this is emotional and physical exhaustion of health workers which results from conflict and chaos within the ranks of the healthcare structure,’’ he said.