The president of the affiliation, Prof. Afekhide Ernest Omoti, who said this in an announcement made out there to journalists in Benin City on Thursday, November 5, 2026, described the proposed sanctions as unjust.
Omoti, nonetheless, known as on the National Assembly to carry governments accountable for failing to offer the sources, infrastructure and enabling setting required for efficient emergency medical companies.
He urged lawmakers to handle the systemic challenges confronting the nation’s healthcare sector fairly than introduce punitive measures in opposition to health professionals.
He famous that the National Health Act, NHA, had already offered a authorized framework for shielding sufferers requiring emergency medical therapy, stressing that present provisions prohibit the refusal of emergency care.
He mentioned it was essentially unfair to impose legal legal responsibility on healthcare workers and hospitals for failing to offer companies when governments had not fulfilled their accountability to offer the required sources and enabling setting.
The NMA president mentioned the important query was not essentially the absence of laws however the failure to implement present provisions and create the enabling setting for his or her efficient execution.
“Of particular importance is Section 6 of the National Health Act, which establishes the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, BHCPF, and provides for the funding of emergency medical treatment.
“This provision recognises that emergency care requires monetary help and that healthcare services should not be left to bear the price of offering such companies with out applicable reimbursement,” he said.
Omoti lamented that the implementation of the BHCPF remained inadequate, leaving hospitals and healthcare facilities that provide emergency treatment to bear considerable financial costs without the expected refunds or reimbursement.
“This creates an unsustainable state of affairs through which hospitals are anticipated to offer emergency care with out the required monetary help,” he added.
He further identified the shortage of doctors and other healthcare professionals as a major challenge confronting the country’s healthcare system.
He attributed the situation to poor remuneration, unfavourable working conditions, inadequate infrastructure, insecurity, excessive workloads and the general lack of an enabling professional environment.
According to him, these challenges have contributed to the alarming migration of Nigerian doctors and nurses to other countries, including neighbouring African countries where conditions of service are increasingly attractive.
“Our hospitals are consequently working with dangerously insufficient manpower. In a number of services, the few out there medical doctors are anticipated to handle overwhelming affected person hundreds, generally underneath extraordinarily troublesome circumstances and with out ample help,” he stated.
The NMA president also decried the deplorable state of infrastructure and a persistent shortage of essential medical supplies across hospitals in the country.
He listed oxygen, essential drugs, blood and blood products, resuscitation equipment, medical consumables, functional ambulances and other life-saving facilities as basic emergency-care requirements that are not readily available in many healthcare institutions.
He questioned how doctors could be expected to provide emergency treatment when hospitals lacked the basic equipment and supplies needed to save lives.
“How can we fairly anticipate a health care provider to offer emergency care when the hospital lacks the essential gear, medication and consumables required to save lots of a life?
“How can we threaten health workers with imprisonment for circumstances that are substantially beyond their control?” he queried.
He suggested the National Assembly to handle the elemental deficiencies within the healthcare system fairly than introduce punitive measures that might additional demoralise an already distressed workforce.
He additionally urged the Senate to rethink the proposed modification in its current kind and redirect its legislative efforts in the direction of addressing the challenges undermining emergency healthcare supply in Nigeria.
