By Daud Olatunji

The new Chairman of  the Association of General and  Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, Ogun State chapter, Dr. Rabiu Kusimo, says  the reason Nigerians are not getting good  treatment from hospitals in the country  is because government  treats  private practitioners as competitors.

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He urged  government at all levels to begin to see  private practitioners as partners in progress in the health sector, lamenting that taxes and  levies the private hospitals pay are becoming unbearable.

Kusimo, who is also the Medical Director of Lafiya  Medical Centre, Abeokuta, stated this shortly after he was inaugurated alongside other members of  the executive of the association at  its  25th Annual General Meeting held at the state Secretariat of the Nigerian Medical Association  (NMA) in Abeokuta.

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He said, “To be very modest, we are not getting the best in Nigerian  hospitals, but  the truth is that where people get the best, government champions it.

“Government does not come out the way our government does things here. What government does in other places is that they stay back and support private initiatives.

“There are governmental institutions to take care of health, but government is there to make sure that everybody is covered  under insurance, so, insurance covers you which makes  you not to bother when you are going to  hospital. Because  people are sick and they cannot afford health facilities, their health status gets worse.

“Also, government should stop seeing private institution as  a competitor and they should support private initiatives. Taxes and  levies private hospitals pay are becoming unbearable. If government sees  us as a people who are trying to complement their efforts  in the health sector by delivering good healthcare to the people, then  the state of health would get better”.

Kushimo added that if  government could  work with regulatory bodies and ensure that private medical hospitals are registered  with the bodies, quackery  would become a thing of the past.