The Adamawa Government has expressed concern over the poor services provided by healthcare service providers in the state.
Chairman, Adamawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (ADSPHDA), Dr Sulaiman Bashir, stated this at the inauguration of Health Provider Accountability and Patient Bill of Rights, on Thursday in Yola.
According to him, many healthcare providers in the state treat consumers poorly and do not consider or treat patients with respect.
“Healthcare providers have often treated consumers poorly with many not considering it as their responsibility to listen carefully to consumers’ preferences.
“They do not facilitate access to healthcare neither do they offer detailed information nor treat patients with respect.
“Thus, lack of providers accountability to health may have adverse effects on the quality of healthcare services they provide and ultimately on health outcomes.
“On the other hand, evidence on factors and interventions shaping health provider accountability is thin, for this reason, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions in what works to enhance accountability,” he said.
He said the Patient’s Bill of Rights entailed health workers as professionals to be answerable for their own action.
The health workers, he said, trained on high clinical practice and ethical standards must accept professional responsibility when or if deviation occurred.
According to him, the bill seeks to strengthen provider’s accountability and entrench implementation of Patient Bill of Rights, adding that the agrncy accorded priority to the passage of the bill since inception.
He said that the agency was implementing various projects that relied on the provider accountability and Patient Bill of Rights.
“Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri has made it categorically that under his leadership, no one will be short changed or left behind.
“We shall uphold this accountability as a directive and prioritise the provider accountability and patient bill of right project collectively,” he said.
He commended the project partners including the Initiative for Health Accountability (IHAT), International Society for Media in Public Health (ISMPH) and USAID State2State team.
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Abdullahi Isa, said that accountability in healthcare providers and patient bill right had been enshrined in national health law.
He said that patient right has been trampled upon for a long time due to ignorance, adding that, “Ignorance of patient contribute a lot because, they don’t know what should be done to them or how to approach the system itself if their right violated.
“And this lack of knowledge has been capitalised by our healthcare providers to abuse the patient right,” he said.
He described lack of proper and good rewarding system in the healthcare sector as among the issues affecting the smooth provision of healthcare delivery in the country.
“Journalist has alot to do in creating awareness about the patient bill of right so as to educate the community and also to note that healthcare providers equally have their rights to be protected,” he said.