Enemuo Acted like a Traditional Healer - Medical Council

If not for death, the Medical and Dental Council of
Nigeria, the country's regulatory agency for the
practice of medicine, would have disciplined the late
Dr. Iyke Enemuo because he acted like a traditional
healer.
Enemuo died after contracting the Ebola Virus
Disease from the ECOWAS diplomat, Olubukun
Koye, whom he treated in a Port-Harcourt hotel.
Fielding questions from journalists in Abuja, the
Registrar of MDCN, Dr. Abdulmumuni Ibrahim,
condemned the decision of the late doctor to treat a
patient suffering from a contagious disease in a
hotel.
While describing Enemuo's action as highly
unethical, Ibrahim said it was wrong to treat a
patient outside a medical facility.
He said:
"It is very unfortunate that he died. But what
he did was very wrong. In fact, orthodox
doctors should not behave like traditional
healers. No medical intervention by a doctor
should be done in secrecy.
If you are a patient, the doctor should advise
that you should be treated at the right facility.
Even when in an emergency, a doctor should
get the patient moved to the hospital after
handling the emergency. So, honestly it was
really wrong for the doctor to treat a patient in
a hotel. What he did was unethical."
Punch reports that Ibrahim also called on doctors
not to join in abandoning patients with symptoms
similar to EVD in hospitals but that doctors and
other medical personnel must be properly kitted
with protective gear when handling patients
displaying EVD symptoms.
He continued:
"A doctor is not supposed to reject a patient,
although the consultation between a patient
and a doctor is a mutual contract. A doctor has
the right to accept or not to accept to treat a
patient. But it is unfortunate that a doctor will
refuse to treat a patient after he or she goes to
the right facility seeking treatment.
If a doctor is up to date in the practice of
medicine, he should be well informed about
managing the Ebola Virus Disease and that is
why the MDCN has made it a policy that for a
doctor to renew his/her license annually, he/
she must be up to date by way of continuing
professional development.
If a doctor is up to date, he will be in tune with
global best practices and he will be
knowledgeable about the approved protocol of
treating Ebola Virus Disease. It is also
expected that every medical personnel involved
in managing a case of the disease is fully kitted
in world standard protective kit."

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