THE Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, yesterday disclosed that the unsatisfactory performance of the health system is largely due to misdirected funding for health and not underfunding.
He explained that instead of addressing access to qualitative health for all, especially for the poor and vulnerable, the country skewed more towards providing quality healthcare for those who can afford it while leaving others behind.
He, therefore, urged all stakeholders – government at all levels, private sector, development partners, etc., to ensure that premium attention is given to revamping the primary health care system, and implementing transparency, accountability, and checking the leakages and wastages hampering growth in the health sector.
Speaking during the Primary Health Care Summit organised by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in Abuja, he said: “We have had years of unsatisfactory performance in Nigeria’s health care system, especially at the primary healthcare level. A recent report by a study group published in the Lancet, attests to this problem and laments the poor outcomes despite an increase in health investment over the past two decades.
“The inference is that the underperformance of the health sector is not just the results of underinvestment in health but also of misdirected investment. It may even appear that instead of quality healthcare for all, we have strayed in terms of service delivery more into health for some (those who can afford it), and leaving the majority behind – which is what we have always said we do not want to do. Addressing this imbalance is what this summit is about.
“Considerably, fewer than 50 percent of Nigerians today have access to basic health care services.”