Agency The Nigerian Medical Association has debunked the bribery allegation levelled against medical doctors, stressing it upholds ethical and professional standards to strengthen public trust in the medical profession. The Chairman, NMA Lagos Zone, Dr Babajide Saheed, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Lagos. He said this while reacting to an online publication which alleged that “two-thirds of Nigerian doctors and nurses demand bribes before attending to patients.
” Saheed noted that the online media publication claimed to have drawn the report from a recent survey by the National Bureau of Statistics report titled, “Corruption in Nigeria: Pattern and Trends.” He stated, “If the reporter had done due diligence, he/she would have realised that the respondents-based national survey of 33,035 households in the 36 States and FCT reported 4 per cent requests by or payments of bribes among doctors, nurses and midwives cluster. “Despite having some reservations about the professionals’ clustering of doctors, nurses and midwives in the survey, we are still at a loss as to where the reporter got his or her two-third quoted figure.
“A whooping 67 per cent instead of the four per cent reported in the referenced NBS report. “While we pledge to continue to give our best to our esteemed patients, we frown at any attempt to malign our hardworking and ever-sacrificing members,” he said. He warned that NMA would not hesitate to use lawful means to seek redress fo.