The Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, CMAC, Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, OOUTH, Dr Oluseun Adek has advocated stronger emergency referral systems to reduce preventable maternal deaths in Nigeria.
Adek said even where tertiary hospitals have specialists, blood supply, operating theatres and essential medicines, such resources cannot save patients who cannot reach them in time due to broken referral, transportation and communication systems.
According to him, medical innovation should not be measured only by sophisticated technology or the number of research papers published, but by the extent to which discoveries improve patients’ health and quality of life.
He made the call as a guest speaker at the Annual General Meeting of the Islamic Medical Association of Nigeria, IMAN, Ogun State Chapter, in Abeokuta.
Speaking on the theme, “From Lab to Langer: Taking Medical Innovations to Underserved Communities,” Adek said Nigeria’s health challenge was not lack of medical knowledge, but failure to translate existing knowledge into accessible care for ordinary citizens.
“The problem is a broken bridge between what medicine knows and what the patient can actually reach,” he said, citing the case of a pregnant woman in a rural community who develops severe bleeding after childbirth but suffers delays in transportation and referral.
He said preventing maternal deaths requires functional emergency referral systems, reliable transportation, early recognition of complications and prompt access to skilled health personnel.
Adek also called for improved access to essential medicines, affordable generic drugs, community-based screening for hypertension and diabetes, and improved pain management for cancer patients.
He urged Muslim healthcare professionals to use mosques as platforms for health education, routine screening and disease prevention, and to leverage mobile technology for appointment reminders, follow-up and emergency coordination, while protecting patient confidentiality.
He charged doctors to promote evidence-based treatment, nurses to strengthen patient education and safety, pharmacists to encourage rational drug use, and laboratory scientists to ensure accurate diagnosis and timely communication of critical results.
Citing Qur’an 4:58, which commands believers to discharge trusts and judge with justice, Adek said healthcare professionals must demonstrate integrity, competence, compassion and accountability in their dealings with patients. He added that patients should receive care based on clinical need and urgency, rather than financial status, social connections or influence.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of IMAN, Ogun State Chapter, Dr Ibraheem Opeewe, said the association’s mission was to improve healthcare quality in Nigeria through service delivery, collaboration, education, training and advocacy.
He called for greater support to enable the association to expand its outreach activities and improve access to healthcare among underserved communities across the state.