A Medical Practitioner and an Educator, Dr Femi Ogunremi, has expressed worry over the inadequacies in the show of empathy by healthcare providers in Nigeria’s health sector.

Ogunremi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, of Monitor Healthcare Ltd.,  a medical communication technology company, raised the concern via Zoom on Saturday in Lagos.

The company had organised a series of soft skill learning for stakeholders in the sector, in which “Empathy” was the first.

According to him, honestly, it was when I went to care for my uncle that it became pronounced in my mind.

“The way I was attended to; people not knowing I am a doctor, even, when they know, the way people acted and reacted was quite frightening.

“I feel that attitude also, hinges on the quality of care that they will be delivering,” he said.

Ogunremi said that one of the ways to deal with the problem was for workers to make a conscious effort to be aware that empathising has a significant role to play in the service outcome.

He said that awareness campaigns would go a long way to enlightening healthcare givers on the skill to improve service delivery.

“We can improve quality, if more health personnel understand this; if we understand how empathy can impact the results that we get, it will go a long way.

“Also, a lot of soft skill training; taking the skills to workplaces, and enlightening other workers.

“Again, we need to do a lot of advocacy so that the caregivers can understand where empathy is positioned amid even the care that we are offering,” Ogunremi said.

Also, a participant, Dr Ibrahim Yusuf, said that healthcare workers needed to be deliberate and self-motivated to get to that higher level of connection with patients.

Yusuf, a Health Manager, Shell Nigeria, said: “The ability for those workers to be able to put empathy as part of what they do is where the issue is.

“The hospital workers are also Nigerians; every one of us is confronted with the same social issue.

“It is the ability to be able to take away that tower of the social issue to say, ‘I am at work now, and I am attending to people who are unfortunate to have been afflicted with whatever illness.

“And then, I need to be deliberate about showing empathy here so that they can get well.”