Date Published: 07/06/10
Utuama tasks Doctors on free Medicare
Delta StateDeputy Governor, Professor Amos Utuama, has implored private medical
practitioners to refer indigent patients to government hospitals to take care of
the Delta State Government free medicare scheme.
The state government as part of its human capital development agendum, runs free
medicare for pregnant women, children under five and for rural dwellers.
Utuama, speaking at the fifth Annual Conference of Catholic Medical Association
in Effurun on Saturday urged private medical practitioners not to allow indigent
patients to go without medicare.
“While the medical ethics urge you to be savers of life in line with the
Catholic faith, pecuniary interest may sometime cause a doctor to refuse to
treat a patient without means. This certainly will be contrary to both the
medical professional ethics and our Catholic faith, particularly, where the
patient dies.
“Where a medical doctor is unable to offer free treatment to an indigent
patient, he is urged to refer the patient to a government hospital to take
advantage of the available free medical programme,” he said.“It is gratifying to note that the needy patient is not left without hope. The
Delta State Government under the leadership of one of yours, His Excellency, Dr.
Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, has under the agenda of human capital development
introduced free maternal healthcare, free rural healthcare and free under five
healthcare in the state to make medical care accessible to the less privileged
and at no cost.
“There is no doubt that these programmes will promote holistic healthcare as
well as make doctors less vulnerable to breach of their professional oaths of
engagement and where they are Catholic, the Catholic faith,” he said.
He commended the association for coming together to examine ways that the
Catholic faith could be promoted in the course of the practice of their
profession. |
