By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal
The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Kwara Chapter, on Monday in Ilorin advised government at all tiers to implement comprehensive policy reform on healthcare system in Nigeria.
Prof. Abdulrahman Afolabi, the Chairman, NMA-Kwara stated this while speaking during a news conference organised as part of the activities for the 2025 Physician’s Week.
The theme of the Week is entitled: “Healthcare as a Value Chain: Building Efficiency from Policy to Patient”.
The sub-theme is entitled: “AI, Ethics and the Physicians’ Role in Modern Healthcare”.
Afolabi who was represented by Dr. Ayinde Musa, the Acting Vice Chairman of NMA observed that healthcare delivery does not begin in the hospital.
According to him, healthcare delivery starts with policy formulation and runs through resource allocation, infrastructure development, training, logistics, service delivery and patient outcomes.
“When one link in the chain is weak, whether it is poor policy Implementation, inadequate funding, lack of equipment, or workforce shortage, the entire system suffers,” he said.
The NMA Chairman lamented that Nigeria’s healthcare system continues to face multiple challenges including insufficient health financing and inconsistent policies, shortage and migration of healthcare professionals.
Others, he said, are poor primary healthcare infrastructure, weak referral systems and fragmented coordination.
“To build efficiency therefore, we must adopt a system-thinking approach that aligns policy, practice and patient-centered outcomes,” he said.
He also charge policy makers to listen to practitioners, and urged members of the association to uphold standards and ethics.
Afolabi said patient must have equitable access to quality care., adding that efficiency in healthcare is not about speed alone, it is about delivering the right care, at the right time, by the right team, using the right resources.
Similarly, Afolabi stated that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the medical field, should be utilised as a complement to human intelligence and not a replacement.
He insist that no algorithm can replicate the compassion, moral reasoning, and trust that define the physician-patient relationship.
He said: “Physicians must be active participants in shaping this transformation, not passive observers. We must ensure that technology serves humanity, not the other way round
“While these innovations promised greater efficiency, and accessibility, they also raise ethical and profound questions”.
Some of the programme organised as part of the activities for the 2025 Physicians’ Week includes visitation to motherless babies home and sensitization of young children in schools about medical field tagged: “Young Doctors Day”.
