Angela Onwuzoo
For the nation’s health sector to deliver quality healthcare services in line with international standards and best practices to Nigerians, Health Writers Association of Nigeria has called on the new Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire and the Minister of State for Health, Senator Adeleke Mamora to urgently address major challenges confronting the sector, especially the problem of brain drain and poor funding.
According to HEWAN, an umbrella body of all health/science reporters and editors in Nigeria, this would bring about the needed change in the sector and also ensure that better health services are provided to the people.
The association, in a statement signed by its President, Mrs Chioma Obinna and Secretary, Mrs Lucy Ozigbo respectively, said having carefully examined the sector and the myriads of problems facing it over the years, it had identified seven priority areas that required immediate attention of the two health ministers, whom it said were not new in the job.
In the statement tagged: “The dawn of a new era in the health sector”, the association said; “As stakeholders in the Nigerian health sector, we are very constrained to state that the newly appointed ministers understand the system, the challenges and bottlenecks – as one of them worked closely with his predecessor, Prof. Isaac Adewole, the immediate past minister.
“Though you have promised to overhaul the secondary and tertiary health institutions in the country in order to reduce medical tourism upon your appointment, we, members of HEWAN having carefully covered the health sector for many years, are worried that critical steps are needed in the sector to ensure better health services for our people.
Top on the priority list of HEWAN is the implementation of Primary Health Care policies and provision of adequate funding for all PHCs in the country, which the association told the ministers, who are core health professionals, that paying attention to PHCs often described as the bedrock of healthcare would drastically reduce the disease burden in the country.
The association urged them to continue with the 10,000 PHCs project across the country to make healthcare services accessible and affordable to the people.
The association is also asking Ehanire and Mamora to subsidise healthcare services for the elderly, emphasising that there is need to put in place, measures to address the healthcare needs of the elderly and retirees in the country.
Describing their appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari as putting the right peg in a right hole, HEWAN enjoined the ministers to tackle medical negligence and misdiagnosis that have lingered in the sector for so long.
It said: “The country is in dire need of effective medical laboratory services. Many of the national laboratory facilities have gone moribund. For instance, the Vaccine Lab in Lagos. There is need to revitalise these facilities for better treatment outcomes as medical laboratory remains the bedrock of medical treatment.
“Again, there is need for improved efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality and morbidity rate in the country which has continued to be on the increase. And also investigate and prosecute cases of negligence in the hospitals in order to bring back confidence in the health system.”
The association also wants the ministers to address the problem of inter-professional rivalry in the public health sector, urging them to have what it described as “zero tolerance for discord in the sector.”
Crucially, the association is seeking an end to brain drain in the health sector plus a functional National Health Insurance Scheme that would make health insurance mandatory and enable the country achieve Universal Health Coverage.
“Increase funding for the sector and end brain brain. A 2017 poll by the Nigerian Polling Organisation found that over 90 per cent of medical doctors in the country intend to seek employment opportunities abroad because of low job satisfaction, poor remuneration and high deductibles from their salaries.
“Also, make NHIS functional and health insurance mandatory. Based on available evidence, HEWAN believes that Nigeria cannot achieve Universal Health Coverage, if health insurance remains optional. Millions of Nigerians continue to face health challenges because they cannot afford quality care. Health insurance has largely been ineffective in the country.
“We have observed that despite billions of naira spent on the scheme since 2005 when it took off, millions of Nigerians still lack access to quality healthcare. So we ask for a functional scheme that will bring about Universal Health Coverage”, the association said.
