BENIN – The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has urged communities and rural dwellers in Edo State to collaborate with it to curtail the activities of quack medical practitioners.
The NMA Chairman in the state, Dr Emmanuel Ighodaro, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Sunday.
Ighodaro said that the state’s Anti-Quackery Monitoring Committee, in collaboration with the NMA and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, were ready for a big fight against fake practitioners in the state.
“The activities of quack medical practitioners, especially in the hinterlands, are on the increase and dangerous. During our tour of Edo North, we discovered that many who know nothing about medicine parade themselves as doctor.
“These quacks were arrested and their clinics shut down and would be charged to court at the appropriate time.
“We are saying that as long as we have quacks in our environment, we will still have problems, no matter what the state government makes available to us.’’
He urged people in rural areas to seek medical attention from genuine heath providers and hospitals.
He added that “a lot of diseases could be prevented if people were exposed to the right information and education about their health status from appropriate places.’’ (NAN)
