Public hospitals issuing fake medical reports, says senate

The senate has asked the health ministry to put measures in place to measures to check the “dangerous trend” of fake medical reports in the country.

Uche Ekwunife, senator representing Anambra central, moved a motion on fake medical reports at plenary on Tuesday.

Ekwunife had said the commercialisation of medical reports poses a grave danger to the medical health and safety of Nigerians.

“The integrity of the medical report is being compromised and eroded by the realisation that it may not contain the true and accurate medical details of the person named in the report,” he said.

“The code of ethics of the medical profession abhors the illegal issuance of medical certificates and records to patients without conducting all the relevant tests.

“Guidelines exist in the medical profession which prescribe these conducts, but no effective implementation of these regulations and what appears to be a trend of commercialization of medical reports in some public hospitals where authentic medical reports are obtained for a fee and without undergoing any tests whatsoever.”

Contributing to the debate, Chimaroke Nnamani, senator representing Enugu east, also urged the NMA to stop the sale of “fake medical reports”.

“No medical doctor will offer a fake medical report if he is spiritually all right. I think it is time we urge the medical association to put a stop to it,” he said.

Abba Moro, senator representing Benue south, asked government agencies to sanction those guilty of issuing fake medical reports.

The motion was adopted by the lawmakers after it was put to a voice vote by Senate President Ahmad Lawan.

The development comes weeks after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it would prosecute doctors issuing fake medical reports.