World Organisation of Family Doctors, Bauchi State chapter, has raised the alarm over environmental degradation threatening the health of many families.
While marking this year’s World Family Doctors Day, yesterday, a member of the organisation, Dr Yakubu Babatunde, noted that this year’s theme focused on ‘Healthy planet, healthy people’.
The Family Consultant at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) said medical practitioners realised the symbiosis between environment and human health, and its ripple effect on health conditions, which has become a major concern to the practitioners.
“In Nigeria, we are already witnessing the effect of this environmental degradation on our general health. From air pollution, climate change to deforestation, water contamination to dangerous and unhealthy chemicals in addition to food and soil. All of these have effects on our daily lives,” he said.
The doctors warned against further destruction of the environment and the breeding of micro-organisms that cause disease in communities.
“We have noticed that people are victims of the mismanagement of their environment. All these cause sicknesses that take them to the hospitals.
“In our part as family physicians, we advocate hygiene and a clean environment. We reach out to communities to enlighten them on the dangers of not maintaining the environment,” he said.
He urged the government to prioritise the living conditions of family doctors, adding that many practitioners leaving for greener pastures were causing brain drain. “As they leave, they leave more work behind for few of us in Nigeria,” he said.
