The Nation Newspaper

Tag: health sector

  • Avoidable crisis in the health sector

    SIR: The Nigerian health sector has always been on the news with one problem or the other, with the various professional bodies trying to outdo the other. The problem now is between the radiologists and the radiographers.

    The radiologists are sponsoring a new bill in the National Assembly with the help of their colleagues – the National Council of Radiology and Radiation Medicine Establishment Bill 2017, to regulate radiography practice in Nigeria. This is very wrong

    All professional bodies in the health sector are regulated by their councils or boards. The medical doctors including the specialists are regulated by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN); the nurses are regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, the pharmacists are regulated by the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, the medical laboratory scientists are regulated by the Medical Laboratory Council of Nigeria, the radiographers are regulated by the Radiographers Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN), the optometrists are regulated by the Optometrist Board.

    The laboratory scientists work with the pathologists, the pathologists do not regulate them, the optometrists work with the ophthalmologists and the ophthalmologists do not regulate them. The nurses work with medical doctors; the doctors do not regulate them.

    Why now do the radiologists want to take over the functions of the radiographers’ Registration Board of Nigeria? In United Kingdom Germany and others, each profession regulates its members

    The entire wordings of the National Council of Radiology and Radiation Medicine Establishment Bill 2017, is mostly a repetition of the Radiographers (registration etc) Act of 1987 by just removing the word radiographer and replacing it with radiologists. The membership of the NCR bill is twenty (20) with twelve (12) radiologists and only three (3) radiographers.

    The National Assembly is asked to stop this bill. The honourable minister of health is asked to stop this bill. The general public is asked to stop this bill. The nation cannot afford other crisis in the health sector.

     

    • Frank Offor,

    G.R. A. Enugu.

  • Ogun doctors protest decay in health sector

    Ogun doctors protest decay in health sector

    Doctors in Ogun State, under the aegis of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), yesterday marched on Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s office to protest the decay in the health sector.

    They demanded regular payment of their salaries and dues, recruitment of more personnel, procurement of adequate and modern equipment  as well as improved infrastructure.

    The doctors, clad in their lab coats,  were addressed by the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa.

    They also  “visited” the House of Assembly.

    They sang solidarity songs and carried placards.

    Speaking at the Governor’s Office, NMA Chairman Abayomi Olajide admitted the governor “has been doing a lot but he is doing nothing in the health sector”.

    Olajide said the number of health workers in the state “is abysmally poor and infrastructure is nothing to write home about”.

    He explained that the union decided not to go on  strike in order not to worsen the deplorable state of the health sector.

    Adeoluwa admitted  the health sector is facing challenges, but said :”It is uncharitable to say the government has not done nothing in the health sector.”

    The SSG recalled that the Amosun-led administration inherited a bad sector in 2011, but has made improvements.

    Adeoluwa blamed the challenges on paucity of funds, assuring the union the governor will soon address the challenges.

    He said: “Most of what you have said are true. We are not the government that derives joy in telling lies.

    “It is not as if we have done nothing, please. We are not where we should be, I admit. More should be done, we admit.

    “But it is entirely uncharitable, please pardon me, to say the government has done nothing.

    “We have more than doubled the number of health workers we met on ground in 2011. We want to do more.”

    At the House of Assembly, the Clerk, Bisiriyu Lanre, collected the NMA’s letter and promised that the Assembly would intervene.

  • Senate explores rescue of health sector through legislation

    Senate explores rescue of health sector through legislation

    THE challenges facing the health sector in the country and the way forward were the focus of the Senate on Wednesday. Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuosho, reviewed the sector to highlight why it should be urgently rescued.

    The Ogun Central lawmaker painted some depressing pictures about the country’s health sector. To say that the statistics of the rot in the system provided are worrisome may be an understatement.

    How best to deal with the issues of access and quality of health care, how to improve health facilities and services in the country and how to stem the disturbing and growing trend of medical tourism, were some of the critical questions bothering Tejuosho.

    As troubling as the health sector crisis may be, Tejuosho said the Senate is already exploring the use of legislation to effect improvements in the sector.

    The need to turnaround the all import sector, he said, made most of the Senators to become uncommon advocates for the resuscitation of the health sector in Nigeria.

    With the economic recession in the country, Tejuosho believes that a practical way to walk the country out of recession is by boosting investment in human capital, which will in turn stimulate growth. There is a strong link between health and wealth, indeed, between a healthy work force and economic development, he said.

    The lawmaker depicted in graphic form the appalling state of the health sector, including grossly inadequate health budget, poor utilization of health capital budget and high out-of-pocket health expenditure in Nigeria [known to be the highest in the world].

    Equally intolerable, he said, is the several billions of US Dollars, Nigerians spend on medical tourism.

    To underscore the wastage of scarce resources on medical tourism, Tejuosho informed that as at mid October 2016, the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, disclosed that Nigeria was spending over US$1 billion annually on medical treatment abroad.

    That such external expenditure hurts the health of the country’s economy, as the minister observed, is not in doubt. Tejuosho highlighted that at an exchange rate of N305.25 [CBN Rates for 2nd February, 2017], the local equivalent is N305.250 billion.

    To make the situation worse, Tejuosho lamented that despite being a signatory to the ‘2001 African Union Abuja Declaration’, Nigeria has not met with the minimum requirement of allocating 15% of the total annual budget to health.

    “Not surprising, we could not meet the Millennium Development Goal [MDG] target. It should not surprise you too, that Nigeria did not meet the MDG target. Shedding the toga of the past, 2017 budget presents a unique opportunity for us to enhance and develop our health sector. The 8th National Assembly is committed to improving health conditions, health standards and service delivery through realistic appropriation and judicious utilization, driven by legislative oversight. This is our policy thrust,” he said, adding,

    “We, as Senators and members of the House of Representatives, feel the pain of the average Nigerian, more so in the face of the current recession and the attendant hardship it has brought on the people.

    Because we are part of this nation, we believe we must be part of finding solutions to its numerous problems/challenges. This is the reason for this platform. The Appropriation Bill affects everyone, all sectors and issues. In the same vein, health cuts across the rich and the poor. Everyone falls sick and needs medical attention from time to time; thus, every citizen would be affected by initiatives and interventions of the National Assembly in the health sector,” Tejuosho said.

    The National Assembly has severally expressed concern over the non-implementation of the National Health Act and provisions of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

    It may be needless to stress that “health sector is one that requires emergency intervention and deserves priority attention. It is a sector for which we must champion a revolution through the right appropriation and diligent oversight to ensure judicious use of resources for optimum results,” Tejuosho said.

    He also assured that “the National Assembly will ensure that the provision of the National Health Act, 2014, which stipulates that 1% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund be dedicated to the health sector, is adhered to in the 2017 budget.

    “That the National Assembly will improve its oversight of the health sector and health expenditure spending and ensure judicious management of resources allocated to health, particularly given the decline in oil revenues.

    “That there should be greater political will to accelerate resource allocation to health and ensure that the sector is among the top five priority areas in the national budget.

    “That Government must provide an enabling regulatory environment as well as a model for public private partnership to ensure the delivery of quality, safe and efficacious medical products and technologies.”

    Above all, apart from the political will, improved budgetary allocation, the full implementation of the National Health Act, may be the way, the panacea that will remedy the health sector.

  • Health sector stinks, allege protesting workers

    Health sector stinks, allege protesting workers

    The health sector stinks, protesting workers alleged yesterday. They vowed to  begin an indefinte strike on February 27 over the rot.

    The workers, who gathered under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the sector.

    The workers, who marched from the Lagbaja field of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to the state secretariat in Alausa, said the Federal Ministry of Health and all health institutions in the country were nothing to write home about.

    The protesters, comprising pharmacists, physiotherapists, dental technologists, medical laboratory scientists, health information managers and other related professionals, except medical doctors, sang solidarity songs, as they marched through the streets.

    The union’s National President, Comrade Obinna Ogbonna, said what he called the deplorable health system must be reviewed for Nigerians to have access to quality health.

    Some of the placards they displayed read: Please Ministry of Health, do the right thing; No to stagnation of health workers; We are tired of unfruitful meetings; Professional autonomy is the answer. Implement the National Health Act now; Respect the rule of law; Federal Ministry of Health has legalised corruption; and Obey the rule of law.

    They expressed dissatisfaction with the non-implementation of the union’s agreement with the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) since 2009.

    Ogbonna said the neglect of the system over the years led to its decay.

    Corruption, he said, had eaten deep into the system, noting: “For years, Nigerians have decried the deplorable situations in our health system that needs serious attention. If Nigerians must be healthy and receive quality healthcare services, then this ugly trend must change.”

    He lamented the lack of infrastructure, personnel and equipment in hospitals, which he claimed have become death centres.

    “Patients virtually buy all what is needed for their treatment from shops outside the hospitals, ranging from hand gloves, sutures to drugs. Most of the pharmacies in the government hospitals have been nicknamed “out of stock centres.

    “If nothing is done against the flagrant display of lawlessness, perversion of justice and the rot in the health sector accounting for millions of preventable pains and deaths in Nigeria before February 27, the union will be left with no other option than to declare a strike, ” he said.

    Ogbonna urged the FMoH to implement the agreement to curb the incessant strikes in the sector.

    “The FMoH should recognise and obey court orders. It should give instructions to the chief medical directors (CMDs) to also do the needful to ensure there is autonomy, freedom of expression to other healthcare professionals in their various facilities.

    “That will help us curb the incessant acrimony, strikes and disharmony in the health sector, “he said.

    The union’s South-West Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Eke Uzondu, urged the government to see to the welfare of FMoH workers.

    He said: “The workers have suffered enough, especially those that are not medical practitioners. But in an overview, all health workers are suffering one thing or the other; there are no equipment, facilities are not available and there is lack of training and retraining of personnel. Some of the equipment is obsolete, the working environment is not conducive and arrears are being owed.

    “These do not motivate the workers and if anything, they kill the morale of the workers.”

  • Waje, Toolz, Desmond Elliot, others call for investment in health sector 

    Waje, Toolz, Desmond Elliot, others call for investment in health sector 

    As the federal government prepares to finalise its 2017 budget, top Nigerian celebrities have come together urging the government to invest in health sector as stipulated in the National Health Act (2014) and keep its commitment to the 2001 African Union’s Abuja Commitment.

    Speaking at a media parley, Singer, Waje expressed disappointment in little commitment shown by the government towards the health sector, she said,

    “As a proud and patriotic Nigerian, it is particularly distressing to me that our country is suffering from a silent  killer – this health crisis which is completely avoidable,” Waje said.

    “It is time to act Naija! We must come together with a collective voice, and tell our government to do more by investing in the health of our children and families, by doing so, we will make Naija stronger.”        A video, ”I AM IN …to make Naija Stronger” with an all-star cast including Yemi Alade, Desmond Elliot, Kate Henshaw, Ali Nuhu, Basketmouth and Toolz, was launched.

    Also speaking, Kannywood actor Ali Nuhu, said “Enough is enough! This is the message we are sending to our   government. A healthy Nigeria makes a wealthy Nigeria and we need to stand together to Make Naija Stronger. Now it’s your turn, if you haven’t added your voice to better our nation’s health system, you need to do so right now.”

    Yemi Alade made a call to the grassroots saying: “Make all of una join una voice to tell our government say make dem put correct money for our health matter so that all the pikin and mama wey dey die unnecessarily for Naija go stop.”

    Nachilala Nkombo, Deputy Director of ONE Africa said: “While other African countries are improving their health indicators, inconsistent and insufficient health funding in Nigeria over the years has made access to basic life-saving health services a luxury for ordinary Nigerians.”

    Fifteen years ago all African governments made a commitment in Abuja to increase health spending to 15% of their national budgets but this condition has not been fulfilled by Nigerian policymakers.

  • Expert advocates proper funding for health sector

    A medical expert, Dr Oso Taiwo, on Monday called for proper funding of Nigeria’s indigenous health sector as an alternative to foreign medicare.

    Taiwo, who is the Executive Director of Ibukun Oluwa Hospital, Osogbo, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    He said that only well-funded and standardised health sector can make the society better for the purpose of improving the well-being of the people and happy at all time.

    According to him, “If the healthcare system is being developed and adequately funded, there will be no need for Nigerians to go abroad to treat simple headache.

    “The case of former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, is a practical example for the rest of African countries, most especially the ruling class to have a re-think and do the right thing.

    “It has been established that those who go abroad for treatment are those who have easy access to national resources, which is seriously killing the economy,’’ he said.

    He stressed the need to commit more resources to the sector and make it a priority in the consideration of governmental policies.

    Taiwo also called on the practitioners in the health sector to stand up to their professional ethics in order to fulfil their obligation of service to humanity without blemish.

    He urged them to be rooted in the modern trend of the profession in order to face the challenges of the moment in the face of global warming, which is seriously threatening the human race.

    The physician implored the government to pay more attention to the sector and adequately make funds available.

    He said that practitioners without facilities are like army generals without weapons. 

  • Govt to restore peace in health sector

    Govt to restore peace in health sector

    The Federal Government  has taken another step in restoring industrial harmony in the sector.

    Its negotiating team,  comprising Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, Minister of State for Health Dr Osagie Ehanire, Chairman of the National Income, Salaries and Wages Commission Mr Richard Egbule and Ministry of Labour and Employment Perment Secretary Dr Clement Iloh, has met to devise means of ensuring peace in the sector through dialogue.

    “We have set up two committees. One is to look into the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) demand for relativity circular to enable them get reasonable wages while the other is to look into the issue of skipping because members of the Health Sector Unions, Nurses  and Midwives  Association, Laboratory Association want to skip a particular grade level,” Ngige said.

    Adewole emphasised the essence of peace in the all-important health sector, promising that there would be lasting peace soon.

    “We wish to take every complaint on board. We will look at them critically in a way that will remove any form of interruption in national health care delivery,” he said.

  • Fed Govt sets up committees to resolve crisis in health sector

    Fed Govt sets up committees to resolve crisis in health sector

    The Federal Government yesterday took steps to ensure industrial harmony in the nation’s health sector, setting up two committees to assist in the resolution of the crisis that had bedeviled the sector.

    Minister of Labour and Employment said at the end of a meeting of the Federal Government negotiating team saddled with the responsibility of addressing the issue that there was the need to harmonise all issues in the sector in other to ensure industrial harmony.

    Members of the government team include the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole , Minister of State for Health, Dr. O. Ehanire, Chairman of the National Income, Salaries and Wages Commission, Chief Richard Egbule and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr. Clement Iloh.

    The government set up two committees to look into the issue of the circular on salary adjustments and the payment of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure skipping arrears.

    According to Sen. Ngige, there was an overriding need for social dialogue as the only sure way to industrial peace, adding that “We have set up two committees ; one is to look into the issue of JOHESU demands for relativity Circular to enable them get reasonable wages while the other is to look into the issue of skipping because members of the Health Sector Unions, Nurses  and Midwives  Association, Laboratory Association want to skip a particular grade level”.

    He said that the Nigerian Medical Association also made a joint position on skipping, hence the need to harmonise the positions in the spirit of collective bargaining, bearing in mind the extant economic down turn in the country.

    Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, who also spoke after the meeting emphasised the essence of peace in the health sector, saying “this is the beginning of lasting peace. We wish to take every complaint on board. We will look at them critically in a way that will remove any form of interruption in the national healthcare delivery.”

  • Buihari names Salako, Ihekweazu, three others heads of agencies

    Buihari names Salako, Ihekweazu, three others heads of agencies

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved five new appointments for critical agencies in the Nation’s Health Sector.

    The appointments, according to a statement issued on Friday by Director (Press) in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Bolaji Adebiyi, disclosed that Professor Babatunde Lawal Salako is now Head of Nigerian Institute for Medical Research.

    Dr. Chikwe Adreas Ihekweazu is Head of the National Centre for Disease Control; Dr. Sani H. Aliyu – Head of National Agency for the Control of AIDS; Professor Echezona Ezeanolue – Head of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency; and Professor Usman Yusuf – Head of National Health Insurance Scheme.

    Dr. Salako before the appointment was the Provost, College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan.  He graduated from the same University in 1986.

    He is a fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in both Edinburg and London.  He is also a member of an International Panel of Experts, United States Institute of Disease Control in Atlanta.

    Dr. Ihekweazu is currently the Managing Partner of EpiAfric, a public health consultancy firm that focuses on Africa.  He obtained his medical degree at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1996 and had worked in Berlin, Germany, the United Kingdom and in South Africa before he established his consulting firm in 2014.

    Dr. Aliyu is currently a Consultant in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Cambridge University, United Kingdom.  He got his medical degree from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1993.  He worked as a medical officer at the State House Medical Centre, Abuja and from there moved to Cambridge in 1998.

    He rose through the ranks until he became a Consultant in Microbiology.

    Professor Ezemolue is currently a Professor of Paediatrics and Public Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.

    He got his medical degree at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1995.  He did his paediatric internship and residency at the Howard University, Washington DC, USA and obtained his Fellowship in Paediatric Infectious Disease from New Jersey Medical School.

    He moved to Nevada in 2005 where he remains to date practicing Paediatric medicine.
    Professor Yusuf is currently a Professor of Paediatrics at St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, United Sates of America.

    He graduated in medicine from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and worked in the University Teaching Hospital from 1984 – 1989.

    Professor Yusuf worked in the United Kingdom from 1990 – 1995 from where he moved first to South Carolina, USA, where he rose to become a fellow in Paediatric Hematology/Oncology in 1998.

    He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the West African College of Physicians and the American Academy of Physicians.

  • Lambo seeks increased health sector funding

    Lambo seeks increased health sector funding

    A former Minister of Health Prof. Eyitayo Lambo has urged the Federal Government to increase budgetary allocation to health, if the country wanted to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

    Lambo spoke in Abuja at the 2016 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Federal Capital Territory Chapter.

    He said: “It’s a great disappointment that we have been able to achieve less than seven per cent health insurance coverage 11 years after the launch of the formal sector programme of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)

    He listed some of the requirements for attaining universal health coverage as a well-designed and functioning health system; a broad, reliable and sustainable health financing system that assures sufficient financial resources for health; extensive risk-pooling of available funding for health; and efficient use of pooled funds through strategic purchasing.

    “Universal Health Coverage will be difficult to achieve if we do not take steps to: ensure that health is accorded high priority by political leaders; reduce out-of-pocket health spending from the high level of over 60 per cent to not more than 20 per cent; increase risk-pooling from the seven per cent to at least 75-80 per cent; increase budgetary allocation to health to at least meet the Abuja target of 15 per cent of government expenditure; use tax-based revenue to subsidise health insurance prepayment contributions for the poor and vulnerable group; strengthen the national health system, especially primary health care system; and define as well as implement a minimum health package as provided for in the National Health Act (2014)’’,  he added.

    Lambo, who was Health minister from 2003 to 2007 was among those honoured at the event with the NMA Excellent Service Award, for “his vision to commence the Health Insurance Scheme during his tenure as the minister of Health.”

    In her remark, outgoing Chairman of NMA-FCT Dr. Fatima Zara Mairami said the award to Lambo was in recognition of his qualities and invaluable contributions to the health space.

    She described him as a source of hope for improvement in our health care delivery system, adding that ‘’we feel honoured to have him and his contributions to the health space in Nigeria which have been invaluable”.

    The event was attended by Health Minister, Professor Isaac Adewole and his Federal Capital Territory counterpart, Alhaji Mohammed Bello.