Senate moves to stem proliferation of fake medical reports

The Senate has moved to drastically reduce the ugly menace of procurement of medical reports for a fee and proliferation of fake medical reports emanating from public hospitals in the country.

To this end, it has directed the Federal Ministry of Health to set up an efficient and proper mechanism to identify and prevent this very dangerous trend in public hospitals.

Also, the Senate urged the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to intensify its effort in checking incidents of fraud and quackery in the medical profession, especially in public hospitals.

These resolutions followed the adoption of the motion on the proliferation of fake medical reports emanating from public hospitals in Nigeria sponsored by Sen. Uche Ekwunife (Anambra Central).

Leading the debate, Sen. Ekwunife noted with discomfort that a recent investigation revealed the ease with which authentic medical reports can be obtained from some public hospitals in Nigeria for a fee and without requiring any medical tests whatsoever, or even proof of identity.

She expressed worry that this commercialization of medical reports poses a grave danger to the medical health and safety of citizens, and can result in fatal misdiagnosis of patients or anyone else who relies on the contents of such medical reports.

The senator recognized the importance of medical reports as a document which is accorded great weight and importance in the ordinary course of day to day business, including courts of law.

According to her, a medical report contains an individual’s personal medical records and details which are used to ascertain a person’s medical condition, obtain health benefits, certify one’s mental state, investigate addictions, diagnose treatments and most importantly, ascertain and form medical opinions.

Sen. Ekwunife regretted that the integrity of the medical report is being compromised and eroded by the realization that it may not contain the true and accurate medical details of the person named in the report.

“The code of ethics of the medical profession abhors the illegal issuance of medical certificates and records to patients without conducting all the relevant tests.

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“In addition, guidelines exist in the medical profession which prescribe these conducts, but no effective implementation of these regulations,” the senator observed.

Sen. Ekwunife therefore, charged the Senate to curb what appears to be a trend of commercialization of medical reports in some public hospitals where authentic medical reports are obtained for a fee and without undergoing any tests whatsoever.

In his contribution, Sen. Theodore Orji (Abia Central) said the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) should put in place a proper monitoring mechanism in checking medical practitioners who issue medical reports and certificates.

He argued that any medical doctors found culpable of issuing fake medical reports due to financial inducement be sanctioned.

ALSO, Sen. Abba Moro (Benue South) described the phenomenon as a dangerous trend that has complicated the problem of fake drugs, adding that commercialisation of medical report is dangerous for the society and tasked government at all levels to check the trend.