Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years administration scored low in performance of the health sector, especially with poor health indices, low human capital development, incessant strikes by health workers, dilapidated healthcare facilities, among others, that characterised his tenure. With President Bola Tinubu now in charge, Gom Mirian sampled the opinions of Nigerians on what they expect from the new government in the next four years in this article.
As the popular saying goes, “health is wealth,” hence a healthy country is seen as prosperous. If Nigeria were to be qualified based on the saying, then one would conclude that it is the opposite of a prosperous nation. The country’s health sector has over the years been plagued with difficulties, including non or poorly functioning institutions, brain drain and inequities in health services.
Past governments have consistently fallen short in meeting commitments and obligations related to health. The Abuja Declaration of African leaders is one of the agreements Nigeria failed to keep. In 2001, following a call by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for an allocation of at least 15 per cent of annual national budgets to health by governments, the African Union (AU) met in Abuja in April of same year and agreed to allocate the WHO recommended percentage of their annual budgets to improve the health sectors of their respective countries. Nigeria has never kept to that agreement.
Many more examples could be cited, and the consequences of poor attention to the health are there for all to see. They are evident in the sorry state of Nigeria’s hospitals, low funding of the sector, poor health facilities and equipment, poor remuneration of workers and others.
High expectations as Nigerians task Tinubu on healthcare
But with the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, Nigerians are hopeful that the curse of neglect plaguing the Nigerian health sector would be lifted.
Speaking to Africa Health Report (AHR) correspondent who went out to the streets of Abuja to sample opinions of Nigerians on their expectations from Tinubu’s administration in the health sector, a fruit vendor, Aliyu Musa, said he hopes the new administration would reduce the high cost of healthcare in Nigeria to make it more accessible to the people.
He said, “Let this government provide a Health Insurance Scheme for all citizens, not only for government workers. We are all facing inflation in the country, when you go to the hospital only the test will finish your money. By the time you are given drugs to buy, you are left with no money to purchase them. That is why some of us have resorted to self-medication.”
To Dr. Chima Chukwueze, a civil servant with the Federal Ministry of Education, a universal health insurance plan is what the health sector needs.
He said, “More than 60 per cent of Nigerians pay medical expenses from their pockets. What this means is that if you are sick and require N10,000 for treatment and you do not have that amount of money, you may end up dying. Millions die that way in Nigeria. This ought not to be so. Universal health insurance needs to be in place to cater for such people. This should be a priority for this administration.
“Secondly, previous administrations have mouthed the slogan, ‘one primary healthcare centre for every ward in Nigeria’. Perhaps, Tinubu should make this a reality. Again, he should make sure every child is immunised.
Just like Aliyu Musa, Mr Felix Khoaboh was of the opinion that the Tibunu-led administration must ensure affordable healthcare services for ordinary Nigerians as a lot of them lack the financial capacity to access good medical treatment. He also urged the new government to provide more primary healthcare centres in more communities, while making existing ones functional.
He said, “Government should improve the National Health Insurance Scheme, as well as roll out other programmes that will make the common man access to needed treatment. Special hospitals can also be put in place by the government so that people suffering from major ailments like cancer and kidney issues can be treated with the government taking the lion share of the cost.
“There is basically the absence of hospitals and functioning primary health care facilities in most communities. Establishing such health facilities will boost access to good medical treatment. Also, the issue of the proliferation of chemists/pharmacies that are assuming the roles of hospitals should be looked into, because sometimes through wrong diagnosis, treatment in these facilities have caused many patients to end up in worse conditions.
“High cost of drugs; Government has a policy that should subsidise the cost of drugs or grants tax waivers and other incentives to companies involved in producing or importing drugs so that price of drugs will go down in the country. More qualified medical professionals, especially doctors, should be trained and engaged in the country with better pay packages so that they can effectively meet the needs of the people,” said Khoaboh.
Mrs. Nkechi Chukwudi, another Nigerian, has similar expectations. She wants “the current administration to concentrate on revamping the primary healthcare centres across the country and equipping the facilities with skilled healthcare personnel.”
She noted that “primary healthcare is the bedrock of any formidable healthcare system because the majority of our population reside in the rural areas and that is where the burdens of the diseases are. Most Nigerians do not patronise the PHCs due to their deplorable states, lack of qualified human personnel and drugs.
“The immediate past administration flagged off the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) revitalisation programme in January 2017 with the aim of refurbishing 10,000 PHCs across the country but not much was achieved. It will be good if the present administration continues with the rrevitalisation rogramme to reduce the pressure on secondary and tertiary health care and to build a formidable health system that can withstand future shocks.
“Another area that the government should give priority attention to is health insurance. The NHIA Act 2022 has made health insurance compulsory for all Nigerians and health insurance should be made to truly work for all Nigerians. There is a need for the operationalisation of the NHIA Act which proposed for vulnerable group funds to cater for the health insurance of about 83 million vulnerable Nigerians. This will ensure that Nigerians no longer pay out of pocket for health services, the measure will also help in the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).”
It’s time to declare state of emergency on healthcare – Nigeria Cancer Society President
Speaking with Africa Health Report (AHR) on Monday, Dr. Adamu Al- Hassan Umar, the President, Nigerian Cancer Society, called on the government to declare a state of emergency in healthcare.
He lamented the over-concentration of the sophisticated tertiary health institutions in the urban centres while leaving more than 50 per cent of the country’s population in the rural areas in the hands of quacks and local chemists when it comes to health matters.
“The health sector in Nigeria has been in a state of dismay over the years, and when you look at the statistics of having over 80 per cent of the population paying for health care out of pocket, it shows that the state of healthcare has not been significantly encouraging and it is in the rural areas where you have over 50 per cent of this population living below the poverty line that people are paying out of pocket for treatment.
“This is to show you that the majority of Nigerians are worried or more concerned about how to put food on their tables as opposed to going to seek healthcare.
“The health workers are not there, the qualified health workers are not there, and the facilities are not there. We have been listening to a lot of noise about revamping primary health care in Nigeria, but if the truth be told, we are still not yet there due to the reasons that Nigeria is the largest country in Africa with a very robust population of over 200 million people and a very wide variety of ethnic nationalities and landmass but has very abysmal health indices.
On the issue of the brain drain of health workers, Dr. Adamu said the menace is not peculiar to Nigeria. He, however, blamed it on a lack of adequate training institutions, lack of properly trained personnel to train the health personnel, poor working conditions and welfare packages, among others.
For the health sector to be positioned for effective delivery, he recommended, “We need a state of emergency to be declared in the health sector so that there will be a holistic approach to addressing the myriad of challenges or issues that are there. If not, the issue of brain drain will continue to thrive.
“So, this government has to scale up its game and ensure that it gets it right. Nigeria has what it takes. We have the population mark, you Nigerians are very bright. If given the opportunity, they will go to the moon but what they need is appropriate policies, individual-centred political policies that will bring out the best, a conducive environment and of course, welfare. But like I said, our ‘knee jerk’ approach to issues is the major problem.
“We want to see a Nigeria, where people will come from America, where people will come from the UK to seek healthcare. It is possible because when you go to these countries, the majority of the specialists giving health care over there are Africans, so with the right environment at home, they will be able to function more, and they will be able to do more. So yes, it is possible, all it needs is that political will on the part of the government.”
