NMA raids illegal clinics, quack doctors in Aba

The Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, on Thursday, swept into action as it raided clinics in Aba, and fished out some alleged quack doctors.

According to Vanguard newspaper, a number of the quacks were arrested during the operation and handed over to the security agencies for prosecution.

Chairman, NMA Committee on Discipline, Medical Ethics and Quackery, Dr Eze Eze who led the task force, while addressing newsmen, said the clampdown had become necessary following reports of the preponderance of quacks in the medical profession in Aba.

He regretted the harm being done to the medical profession as well as unsuspecting members of society by the quacks.

Dr Eze noted that for a very long time, Aba had become “a free for all place for anybody to come and practice without any form of monitoring”.

He, therefore, vowed that the NMA had decided to go after the quacks and put a stop to their anti-people activities.

“It will no longer be business as usual as we have taken the bull by the horns to save lives by clamping down on such places. The perpetrators will be prosecuted  according to the law.”

The NMA task force leader regretted that a number of lives had been lost due to the activities of quacks.

“A lot of maternities here deliver babies and do surgery and when there’s a problem that requires oxygen they cannot afford it and the person will die.”

“Those who have tooth problems here will go to quacks to remove their teeth and in the process of doing so, they’ll die there while others have sustained infections that led to their deaths two to three weeks later.”

Dr Eze who noted that it took painstaking efforts to identify the clinics operated by quacks, warned those still operating illegal clinics or maternities to desist or brace up for the worse.

“They employ other quacks and groom their relatives to keep expanding. So, what we’re doing now is that when we get any of them, we arrest and hand them over to the police for proper prosecution. 

“They must tell us their details and how they got registered as doctors and the limits of their practice. By law, nobody should open a hospital without a certified doctor who took an oath of office and who will be liable to man the place

“For the last three weeks, since I’ve been appointed because I’ve not been based in Nigeria for a long time. Although when I was here initially as at 1999 I started looking into this. I later travelled and returned a few years ago,” he said.  

Similarly, the Nigerian Dental Association (NDA), has said that 95 percent of places known as dental service clinics in Aba are managed by quacks who never received  any form of medical training. 

Chairman of NDA, Abia State, Dr Innocent Iwegbu, said that the clamp down on the quacks was to reduce the casualty rate arising from activities of quacks.

He regretted that lives are lost on weekly basis because of quacks, describing Aba as the headquarters of quacks.

“Aba is their headquarters because it’s a bigger city than other parts of the state. It’s on record that 95% of so-called dental service clinics in Aba are all quacks. That’s why we see it fit as a duty we owe our people to save them from these quacks.”