•AGF has a duty to ensure that public funds are recovered and culprits punished
BARELY four months after his controversial reinstatement following a highly publicised spat with Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, another round of storm appears to be brewing between the Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, and the governing council of the scheme over issues bordering on probity.
This time, the matter involves N138 billion NHIS cash said to be trapped in 17 banks, financial companies and some individuals from January 2011 till date.
A whistle-blower had reportedly blown the lid on the trapped investments following which the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, brought in a private accounting firm, Aruna Bawa and Company “to carry out a forensic audit and backlog recovery of all National Health Insurance Scheme’s (NHIS’) funds held by financial institutions, companies, individuals into the Federal Government’s treasury in accordance with the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the terms and conditions of the Agency Agreement executed by the parties on the 19th day of September, 2017″.
On May 21, the firm sent its findings to the chairperson of the NHIS Governing Council, Dr. Enyantu Ifenne. It found that “a total amount of N138,088,353,172, made up of principal plus accrued interest charges, compounded up to April 29, 2018, are as at the date of this letter, due from the financial institutions that are holding onto the funds”.
This, as it later turned out, was not before the council had been led by the executive secretary to act on another forensic audit by Sofura Professional Services on the same issue, hence the petition by the firm engaged by the AGF – Aruna Bawa and Company – to the council accusing the executive secretary of concealment, conflict of interest, among other sundry infractions.
An ostensibly embarrassed council had immediately directed the executive secretary to respond to the issues raised. It listed the issues as: “Suggestion that Aruna Bawa & Co and Sofura Professional Services are locked in an ownership contest for the financial data, and by inference, rights to financial rewards accruable from recovered funds.
”Likelihood that these developments/ revelations may undermine public confidence in council’s integrity, transparency and motives for funds recovery efforts.
“Controversy arising from the conflict between the accounting firms may jeopardise recovery of NHIS funds”.
Above all, the council claimed that it was not informed about the other initiative by the government to recover NHIS funds trapped in commercial banks. It gave the executive secretary up till June 12 to respond.
We see two issues as touching fundamentally on how public officials handle public funds. Foremost of course is how a whopping amount which ordinarily ought to have been subjected to routine oversight and financial regulations could be kept by powerful officials in collusion with the banks, away for so long without triggering an alarm in the system. The other is the fledgling industry of rent that such gross derelictions have spawned, and this at humongous costs to the treasury.
Now that the quantum has been established, we expect the recovery efforts to begin in earnest. We expect the office of the AGF not only to lead in the recovery efforts but to identify the individuals and entities involved and the extent of their infractions for immediate prosecution. It should also help resolve the question of whether or not the other forensic auditor was brought in through the back door.
As for the query issued by the governing council to the executive secretary, we expect him to respond if only to shake off his growing image of being a sacred cow – untouchable. His response should also help to resolve the issues between the auditors.
The Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf, on Wednesday in Kano admitted that the Scheme has committed a lot of mistakes in its operation to better the health of Nigerians.
Yusuf who spoke to Reporters during and interactive session, after the launching of seven health sector projects initiated by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje at Muhammadu Specialist Hospital (MDH) Gingiyu, said the Scheme has already taken measures to correct the anomalies.
According to him, “In fact, our mistakes are many! And I am forced to say it because if you do not admit what your mistakes are, you will continue to make such mistakes. We are the regulators of health insurance in this country, and a lot of what you see have been from our mistakes; and we have owned up to that and said we have done mistakes in the past, and we want to tell people we will correct those mistakes and do the right thing.
“What are the mistakes: we have not been holding ourselves accountable, that is number one. Number two, we have not been holding hospitals we give people’s money to accountable. Number three, we have not been holding HMOs we give people’s money to accountable.
“We are saying this time around, it is going to be different, we have to hold ourselves accountable, we have to hold the hospitals we give people’s money to accountable and we have to hold HMOs accountable. Now those hospitals and HMOs we give money to, we will go and ask them—what did you do with that money.
“In Abuja, what we have done in NHIS is that I have deployed Desk Officers to major hospitals in Abuja. They are there to act as advocates for patients. When our patients go to hospitals, and then they said no, your bills are not covered by NHIS, whereas it is, or they don’t get treated well, they go to this Desk Officers and complain to them and the Desk Officers go and advocate for them.
“We want to replicate that across the six geo-political zones in major hospitals. We are going to be enrollee-centric rather than HMO-centric. Many of hospitals get a lot of money from us and they never held anybody accountable, but this time around, it is going to be different.”
He added that, “NHIS has been going round the country interacting with states governments, Commissioners of Health and Governors, and encouraging them to create their own health insurance agencies. So far, we have only 19 of such agencies in the country. Our goal is that by the end of this year, we should be where we need to be. “Our call to them is that if you don’t create your own health insurance agency, they will not enjoy these basic healthcare provisions. So, here we are, we are working with them and we will get there.”
Yusuf also noted that, “people do not know about National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), I agree, but that is the reason that we are here having this interaction.
“The misconception is always NHIS is only for Federal Government employees. Again, we are guilty as charged, we have not gone to talk to people; that is why we have this engagement. And now, our goal is aggressively advocating and telling people what NHIS is about.
“Essentially, the largest pool is Federal Government employees, but it doesn’t mean that is we take care of. We have the organized private sector.”
He stated that HNIS has come up with a programme that can take care of the health needs of the Nigerian masses, pointing out that, “there is this programme called Vital Contributors’ Social Health Insurance Programme (VC-SHIP), for N15, 000 yearly anybody can enjoy healthcare as I would. You pay N15, 000 a year, you can go to a hospital and they will send us a bill up to N300, 000 and NHIS will pay.
“The whole idea is that we are able to do that because the Federal Government has put this large pool into the formal sector. Our goal is to have a large economy upscale.
“The more people contribute into this, (and forget about the sentiment of I contribute, but I probably will not use it) but the whole idea is for the healthy to pay for the sick; the strong to pay for the weak; and the young to pay for the aged.
“This is what we encourage, unless you have a very large number, you are not going to be able to subsidize that. Let us all think about this—I mean, all of us, from the president to the peasant—we all go back to our villages, there are always people coming to us to ask us about going to hospital; and more often than not, you end up spending more than N15, 000. So, you pay N15, 000 and anyone of us can enjoy healthcare delivery as we can pay for every other person.
“So, VC-SHIP is what we want to aggressively advocate and sale to people as part of our outreach for the informal sector; because in the Federal Government, the formal sector is for sure because the Federal Government is now employing more people; but the informal sector is where the future is and that is where about 99 per cent of our people are. We will see how we will connect with the states and do the right thing for our people.”
The House of Representatives Committee on Health Services has incited the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and her counterpart in the Ministry of Budget and National planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, over the contentious National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) N10 billion allegedly moved by its Executive Secretary, Prof. Usman Yusuf.
Also invited are the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, the Accountant – General of the Federation and the Director- General of Budget Office.
They are expected to give insight into the movement of the funds.
The recently reinstated NHIS chief, who met the Chike Okafor –led committee, said that contrary to reports that he moved the NHIS funds, the money is in the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account.
He said: “December 1, 2016 the NHIS got a letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance that the NHIS is a revenue generating agency and that the NHIS needs to pay N8.8 billion operating surplus. NHIS was not the only agency, there were many agencies that were sent this letter.
“When I saw the letter, I went to the minister and showed him the letter. I said we are not a revenue generating agency. I went to the Accountant General too and told him the same.”
Yusuf said he gave the letter to the organisation’s lawyers to research into NHIS Act and investments to see if the organisation was at any time owning the federal government money, but it came out negative.
“Because the premise was that we violated the Fiscal Responsibility Act as we were not remitting to the federal government our operating surplus,” he added.
University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof Abdulwaheed Olatinwo, has canvassed extension of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to persons with infertility, adding that infertility is not a problem for women alone.
According to him, statistics have shown that the degree of the reproductive deformity in women is the same as those in their male counterparts.
While infertility has raised many ethical, legal and social questions, the cost of managing it, Oatinwo said, remained enormous and required government’s interventions.
Olatinwo, who said this while delivering the 178th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has become the most efficient method in removing the societal stigma of infertility from many couples.
In a lecture titled: “Help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless: the medicine of reproductive possibility’’, Prof Olatinwo said: “Infertility should be made a public health issue because it is socially constricted, existing at the crossroads of medical and social realms. It’s management should, therefore, be given special consideration under the NHIS to ease the burden of the affected individuals.”
He advocated preventive strategies for preventing infertility and child-maternal death in Nigeria.
Olatinwo, who lamented the financial constraints of persons suffering from infertility in accessing the ART, said unless his propositions were adopted, many Nigerians might die childless.
He said: “ART has emerged as one of the most widely adopted and successful medical technologies in the last century. While giving hope to millions of couples suffering from infertility, unfortunately, ART services are inaccessible to large sections of the population, mainly due to very high cost of treatment.
“ART also has presented new ethical, legal and social questions that society must address. Many countries have taken steps to regulate certain aspects of ART. However, such are still in very rudimentary stages in Nigeria.
“There is an urgent need for stakeholders (fertility specialists, clients, professional organisations, religious bodies, bio-ethicists, and government) in developing countries, to formulate cultural and context -specific guidelines to address some of these ethical dilemmas.”
Although the UITH boss urged the government to improve on electricity generation and distribution in Nigeria, he added that the government should collaborate with the private sector “who are the main providers of IVY services” by way of reducing or waiving taxes for IVF, drugs, and consumables.
Besides, Olatinwo urged the National Assembly to pass the Bill on the establishment of the ‘Nigerian- Assisted Reproduction Authority’, sponsored by the National Association of Fertility and Reproductive Health (AFRH-Nigeria), to serve as a starting point for regulation of ART practice in the country.
Olatinwo said the ART unit he established at the UITH has been rated as one of best in the public health sector, adding that the unit had taken deliveries of over 30 babies, including sets of twins and triplets.
SIR: The reinstatement of the suspended Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari, has generated a lot of controversy. Yusuf was suspended by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole in June 2017, following allegations of gross misconduct, nepotism, and theft of public funds to the tune of N919 million.
Labour, Civil Society Organizations and opposition parties, have condemned the president’s action, citing it as another example of his penchant for nepotism, favouritism and clannishness, and a dent on the government’s anti-corruption war. Supporters of Yusuf and apologists of the government have on the other hand, claimed that most of the allegations against him are unsubstantiated, full of alterations, mix up in dates, and based on bias.
The consequences of the president’s action are too numerous to mention. Reinstating Professor Yusuf without recourse to the minister who suspended him renders the minister impotent and promotes insubordination both in the health ministry and in other ministries. Investigations by the EFCC and other investigative bodies would be jeopardized as evidences would be tampered with, and potential witnesses threatened, sacked or redeployed. Another fallout from this saga is that the NHIS boss is now independent of the control of the minister and would be reporting directly to the president. The minister would also be reluctant to act on issues involving NHIS and would rather stay aloof. More so, Yusuf would have no genuine respect for his boss, Adewole.
In other climes, Professor Adewole would have resigned his appointment but not so in Nigeria. Abroad, when people leave government, they go into high paying jobs in the private sector. In Nigeria, the reverse is the case because the public sector pays more than the private sector. I doubt if he would be able to resist the pressure from family, friends and well wishers not to throw in the towel, because of the “benefits” that they derive from his occupation of such high office.
The Abuja office of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has become a battle ground in the last two days. Two groups are protesting over the reinstatement of Prof. Usman Yusuf as the scheme’s Executive Secretary. VINCENT IKUOMOLA writes on the power play and intrigues behind Yusuf’s recall.
ANTI NHIS Protest
ALL is not well at the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The reinstatement of the Scheme’s Executive Secretary, Prof Usman Yusuf, has split members of staff into two.
Not a few were shocked by Yusuf’s recall by the Presidency. They argue that the professor should have been excused from office for an unfettered probe into the allegations against him.
They laced their argument with the cases involving former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke, who were on suspension for as long as investigations into the allegations against them lasted.
According to the critics, the Presidency should have been more circumspect of the likely backlash of such directive following the heat generated by the controversial resumption of the former chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pensions Reform, Abdulrasheed Maina.
Maina’s controversial resumption was said to have been advised by a memo believed to have originated from the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF).
On Monday, when Yusuf resumed at his duty post, some workers opposed to his reinstatement staged a protest. There was a ‘balance of terror’ on Tuesday, when another group staged a solidarity rally for the embattled NHIS chief. The pro and anti-Yusuf protests have forced the Nigeria Police to station officers to keep vigil at the NHIS to forestall lawlessness.
As at yesterday, both groups maintain their stands. The anti-Yusuf group vowed to sustain their protest until President Muhammadu Buhari reversed himself. Yusuf’s supporters called for the termination of the ongoing investigations against the embattled executive secretary by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and Independent Crime and other offence Commission (ICPC).
How it all began
Since his resumption in office on August 1, 2016, there has been disharmony between him and stakeholders in the sector – the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) and Health Care Providers (HCPs) and also the workers.
Before things went awry for him, Yusuf was always explaining his mission at the NHIS. He told everyone that the President deployed him to curb the corruption that had eaten deep into the scheme.
He was alleged to have administered the NHIS as an autonomous institution, independent of the supervising Ministry of Health, thereby seeing the Health Minister as an interloper.
A source within the NHIS recalled how Health Minister Prof Isaac Adewole tried to rein Yusuf in but that all attempts failed to yield the desired result.
“Hardly would he attend to any meeting convened by the minister as he was always gave excuses on why he could not be available. He also never failed at every opportunity to talk down on the workers. These high-handedness eroded his self-confidence among the workforce”, a worker who pleaded for anonymity told The Nation yesterday.
Yusuf was at loggerheads the HMOs, accusing them of collecting money without delivering on services. The NHIS has been unable to substantiate his allegations, when the HMOs challenged him to name and shame anyone found to have violated the rules of the game.
He was alleged to have redeployed some officers believed to be critical of his style of administration outside the scheme headquarters and lobbied the redeployment of his kinsmen from the public service as replacements.
The new hands, who were level 10 officers, were imposed on health officers on Grade Level 15 and above, a source claimed, alleging that such actions were taking without clearance from the supervising ministry, the in the absence of a board.
The NHIS chief stuck to his guns the health minister directed him to reverse the appointment of the fifteen officers he brought into the scheme without following due process.
Genesis of Yusuf’s suspension
A petition by the Young Alliance Against Corruption led to Yusuf’s suspension following a directive by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to the health minister to investigate the allegations in the petition.
Swinging into action, Prof Adewole raised an 18-member panel and placed the NHIS boss on a three-month suspension for a hitch-free investigation to take place while the investigation lasted.
Yusuf told the minister that only the President has the power to suspend him.
He probably forgot the fact that the directive to investigate the allegations against him was from Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was then acting president”, a source said.
The allegations against Yusuf were on abuse of office, nepotism and insubordination.
He was accused of buying a Toyota Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) marked NHIS 12Y-01 FG for N58 million.
Yusuf was alleged to have overshot his N2.5 million spending limit and without the permission of the health minister.
The EFCC was said to be investigating Yusuf for over N919 million frauds, involving the award of contracts to cronies without following due process.
To get to the root of the matter in line with the administration’s anti-graft battle, the anti-graft agencies stepped in.
The panel report
After investigating the allegations, the 18-member administrative panel found Yusuf culpable. He reprimanded on the redeployment of the 15 officers. The panel wrote in its report that such an act was a total disregard and insubordination to constituted authority.
On the allegation of fraudulent use of N860 million for staff training without due process, the committee observed the following:
The total number of staff in NHIS is 1,360 as indicated in their nominal roll; however, the members of staff trained by the scheme based on the payment vouchers were 1,992, while the figure submitted by NHIS was 2023. The reported noted was as a result of listing and paying some workers twice but attended only one training. The N508, 036.096.00 paid, according to the report, went to consultants. The staff members got N411, 608,704.00 as allowances.
The procurement department was not involved in the engagement of consultants; some payments were also made without supporting documents; no single payment voucher was raised in favour of the training consultants. Instead, their payments were lumped with participants training allowances and a composite voucher raised in the name of one of the participants, making it look like a normal staff claim.
All the training programmes were approved by Yusuf and ratified by the Executive Management Meeting, which has no statutory approval authority.
All the costs of the training programmes conducted by the respective firms were above the approval threshold of the NHIS boss.
The executive secretary was also found culpable for the award of e-Library books and periodicals as well as project vehicles.
For instance, the panel observed that the N28 million payment for the e-library equipment was made before the execution of the project. The actual amount appropriated for the project was N35.5 million and another N35.2 million for the procurement of project vehicles.
He was also alleged to have paid N48.37 million to Katameya Firstcall Hospital Ltd for treatment of cancer for three patients as financial support to indigent patients. Of the three, only one is an enrollee. He was also said to have erred on the part of the extant rules by approving an estacode and per diem for its staff.
In its conclusion, the committee recommended amongst other things the recovery of funds, including the 13th month salary paid up-front to redeployed staff and also the three-month salary paid after cancellation of the redeployment.
Also recommended for recovery was the money paid to the four seconded officers for oracle training in The Netherlands that was cancelled.
The management of NHIS was directed to recover N82.34 million which was approved for foreign trips and have not been retired in line with the provision of financial regulation 1415(e).
The panel also recommended that the EFCC be invited to help recover N48 million paid to consultants alongside N590.379 million.
Turn of events
It was as if Yusuf’s time was up at the NHIS until last Thusrday, when the Presidency ordered his reinstatement and that he and the health minister should work together.
It was learnt that Yusuf had an audience with the President last year and explained that his anti-corruption crusade at the NHIS was behind his ordeal.
Months after the panel submitted its report, nothing was heard from the presidency as rumours of a cover-up were rife.
In what looked like a confirmation of the rumours, a letter from the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, reinstated Yusuf.
Many Nigerians, who carpeted the government for not disowning the Kyari’s letter and a similar memo by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Maina, are criticising the latest action by the President’s chief of staff.
They described the controversial reinstatement as a stain on the administration’s anti-corruption posture.
“It is a dangerous trend when some characters seen to be in the good book of the President are untouchable irrespective of fraudulent allegations leveled against them”, they warned.
In a statement by its Secretary-General, Alade Lawal, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), said: “This is one intervention too many and as such Mr. President should allow Yusuf to retire from service to have time to run his personal business.
“How can a government official being investigated for a whopping sum of N919 million fraud by the EFCC be reinstated by the government that came to power promising to sanitise the system?
“This is very unfortunate. We, therefore, urge President Buhari to rescind his action and allow Prof. Yusuf to leave the system in peace. Thus, if Prof. Yusuf resumes as the Executive Secretary of NHIS, it will amount to passing a vote of no confidence on the minister.
“What type of a government are we claiming to be running that anyone who is close to the President will become lawless; will not obey public service rules; nor report to the supervisory minister and running a government agency as his personal estate because he is close to the powers-that-be?
“This is the type of action that continues to give the likes of the United States President, Donald Trump, the effrontery to be deriding Africa and its leaders.
“The investigative panel set up by the minister of health to look into the alleged atrocities of Prof. Yusuf, including engagement of a consultancy firm in which he had vested interest to be ripping off the NHIS is a serious public demeanour that should not be condoned.
“As of the time of going to the press, the workers in the NHIS have become restive thereby setting the tone for a series of trade union actions that will be deployed if Yusuf is eventually reinstated.”
Yusuf who was on a suspension was reinstated through a Presidential directive dated February 5, 2018, despite facing allegations of misconduct by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
Since his reinstatement, protests and counter-protests have crippled activities at the NHIS.
The pro-Yusuf group has been doing everything possible to counter their colleagues who are kicking against the reinstatement of the embattled NHIS boss.
The workers under the aegis of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria and the Joint Health Sector Union urged the President to reverse the reinstatement, which according to them “is a smear on his administration’s anti-graft war”.
The anti-Yusuf protest which continued yesterday had a match in the pro-Yusuf faction that countered them. They hailed the reinstatement of the NHIS boss.
Both groups explained their positions to reporters.
According to the anti-Yusuf group, the embattled Executive Secretary who is under EFCC investigation must face anti-corruption charges.
The group insisted that Yusuf should stay away from office until he is cleared by the anti-corruption agencies.
The spokesperson for the concerned members of staff, Mr. Uchenna Ewelike, said Yusuf’s investigation was unlawful as it did not follow due process and should be discontinued.
The pro-Yusuf group said his investigation was unlawful, did not follow due process and should be discontinued.
Ewelike said it was not outside the union’s brief to demand for who presides over them. Rather, the work of the workers’ union is to fight for the welfare of their members.
He said: “The current NHIS boss who is just reinstated is still under investigation by EFCC and ICPC. Is it proper for him to return to work here? Investigation is supposed to follow the rules and the rules of investigation have to be properly followed.
“And if he has been found culpable, for now there is no established allegation that is devoid of bias and that has said he is culpable. On that basis, we believe that the reinstatement of Prof. Yusuf by Mr. President is in order and apt.”
He also claimed that the protest against the NHIS boss was as a result of the reform that was initiated and carried out under his watch.
Ewelike assured his colleagues that none of those that went to the anti-graft agencies to testify against the NHIS boss would be victimised.
He said there was no correlation in Yusuf’s case and that of the former SGF.
The anti-Yusuf group led by the Chairman of the NHIS arm of the union, Mr. Razaq Omomeji, vowed that the protests would continue until Buhari reversed Yusuf’s reinstatement.
He said: “We want to say that our President, we elected him, we have trust in him, that he is a person of integrity. But, whatever is good for the gander is also good for the goose. We are calling on the President that this case of Prof. Yusuf Usman needs to be revisited.
“The President has not been briefed very well. We know him, that when the case of Maina came up he strictly took the necessary action. We are calling on our President, President Muhammadu Buhari, whom we know is a man of honour, a man of integrity, a man of justice, should please take a second look in the reinstatement of this Prof Yusuf
“NHIS is one, we are one family. I hope I am speaking for all of us? Immediately this man came, he came on the will of ethnicity; he came on the will of religion. We want to put it on record that as our national president had issued a press statement, we stay with that statement.
“The President needs to revisit this case; and since we know that the case of Prof. Yusuf is being investigated by the EFCC, please, the President should wait for the outcome of the investigation.”
Workers in Osun on Tuesday returned to work after the Joint Labour Unions in the state called off the indefinite strike embarked on last week Wednesday.
The leadership of the labour unions in the state had called for indefinite strike, which commenced on December 27 to demand for outstanding salaries and promotion of workers.
The Industrial action was, however, called off on Saturday after the state government acceded to their demands.
A visit to the state secretariat at Abere, Osogbo, indicated that workers are back to their duty posts after the holidays as the secretariat gates, which were shut during the strike, are now open to workers.
A staff in the secretariat, Mr. Akeem Ajagbe, said: “workers are like sheep being led by the labour unions, and whatever their decision they make must be complied with.
“As long as the welfare of workers, which includes our full salary payment and promotion is assured, we are glad to return to work.” he said.
He said that although he celebrated the New Year with mixed feelings as they were yet to receive full salary for December as promised by the government, he was happy to see the beginning of a new year with the hope that things would be better in 2018.
At the two local government secretariats of Olorunda and Osogbo, both in Osogbo, workers were equally back to their duty posts.
Some workers were, however, seen in groups discussing, while some were seen cleaning their offices to start the day’s work.
Workers at state health institutions (state hospital, Asubiaoro, and Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital, LAUTECH ) in Osogbo were also seen attending to patients.
An elderly patient, Mrs. Oloyode Awoniyi, who was at the eye clinic department of LAUTECH, told newsmen that she was scheduled for appointment with doctors on Thursday, but because of the strike, she had to return today to reschedule and if possible be attended to by a doctor.
Awoniyi said the strike caused her so much stress, coming from a distance as it had caused so many others too.
She said that the crowd at the eye clinic had doubled due to patients missing out previous appointments because of the strike.
Mrs. Ayoka Lawal said: “I am a patient on health insurance ( NHIS ) and I register with LAUTECH. I was unable to get treatment on Saturday due to the strike.
“Thank God, my condition is not life threatening. Only God knows what would have happened to me.”
Other private businesses and federal establishments in the state were back to full operation from the Yuletide and New Year holidays.
Government have been charged to be more accountable on reduction of maternal mortality and support for women’s maternal health. Speaking at a press briefing which was organised by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) and Centre for Reproductive Rights (CRR) with support of MacArthur Foundation on ‘Assessing the efforts of government on Reduction if Maternal Mortality and promotion if Women”s maternal Health in Nigeria’ and held in Lagos yesterday, the Executive Director WARDC, Dr. Mrs Akiode Afolabi, described maternal mortality as one
of the most neglected health problems and human rights abuse in the world. “Failure to address the continued needless deaths, has implication for us as a country and will continue to shape indicators on health, poverty and other development issues”, she said.
According to Afolabi, it is important to address women’s health rights because of the alarming rate if maternal deaths recorded in Nigeria. “With
most of our health facilities becoming a place where most indigent women die needlessly in a bid to perform their reproductive functions”, she said.
This Afolabi said was based on some of the findings of the scoping assessment conducted by WARDC in Lagos and Kaduna States focusing on accessibility of health facilities to women, adequacy of the facilities to support maternal health, affordability and the response of health care givers of the facilities, particularly low income women.
Giving her report on most primary health centers in Kaduna State, Bridget Joseph, a staff of WARDC said some of the PHC in the State are dilapidated, those with good facilities are without drugs. Joseph also pointed out that most Internally Displaced People Camps (IDPs) are in a deplorable state. “Most women prefer going to Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) than Primary Health Centres ” she said.
On the part, Bukola Osidibo another staff of WARDC in Lagos state while giving her report on her work with low income earners pointed out the
following as some of her findings: Bad attitude of health workers; lack of bed space and chairs; Non availability of drugs/ expensive drugs; shortage
of manpower, among others. Given the extremely high rate of maternal mortality, Afolabi therefore charged the three tiers of Government to take steps to strengthen the implementation and effectiveness of its many initiatives to reduce maternal mortality and increase access to quality maternal health care. Her words “Though government is claiming to play its part in this area, but a lot still need to be done as well as address the deplorable state of IDPs” she said.
The group however gave they following recommendation: Implement the National Health Law 2014 in regards to maternal health care which was
intended to provide National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for vulnerable groups including women;Remove Barrie that women face in accessing family planning and contraceptive information and services; Reduce unwanted and unplanned pregnancies among adolescents by addressing the barriers to reproductive health services and ensure that all adolescents in Nigeria receive comprehensive reproductive health education, among others
The Federal Government said on Monday that it would support the fight against HIV/AIDS programmes through the National Health Insurance Scheme ( NHIS ) in 2018.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said this at the opening of a two-day Nigeria HIV/AIDS intervention symposium in Abuja.
Adewole said that the support had become important because of the prevalence of the epidemic in the country and the world at large.
He explained that in 2016, the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) report had revealed that 36.7 million people live with HIV and AIDS globally, out of which Nigeria contributed 10 percent of this burden.
According to him, out of every 10 HIV positive persons in the world is a Nigerian.
“President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is poised to reverse this ugly trend by making prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection one of the signatory projects in the health sector.
“I am making this pledge that the Nigerian leadership is committed to supporting all interventions that will ensure sustainable reduction of new HIV and AIDS infections in Nigeria.
“Nigerian’s HIV and AIDS response plan has equally benefitted from increased government funding.
“Furthermore, an additional one billion naira has been approved by the National Assembly through National Health Insurance Scheme ( NHIS ), to support the HIV and AIDS programme in the country,” he said.
The minister said that an estimated 3.2 million people live with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria, which ranked only behind South Africa.
He said that although no fewer than one million Nigerians presently had means to anti-retroviral treatment, access to care by those in need remained a challenge.
The health boss advised the participants to imbibe sustainable HIV and AIDS control programmes as well as increase health care service delivery services to achieve meaningful growth.
He also called for proper data management on the number of persons with HIV to encourage strategic planning, realization of fights against the epidemic and also reduce gaps in the national health sector response.
The event which attracted stakeholders across the country featured discussion on challenges and way forward for preventive strategies on HIV and AIDS.
It was a large crowd that gathered at Solid Rock Hospital (SRH), Ojodu, Berger, Lagos, to benefit from the free medical services organised by the hospital. Men, women, children, couples, expectant mothers, the sick, and not so sick were all there. It was part of a week-long activity organised to mark its 25th year anniversary. The hospital was founded in 1992.
According to its Medical Director, Dr Ayo Sanu, who established the hospital with his wife, Dr Tosin, Dental Services’ head, is proud to be one of the top private hospitals in Lagos.
He explained the rationale behind the free services. “Free services are meant to assist the society because the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) needs to enroll many Nigerians, but that is not the case. And it is not capturing the treatment for all the diseases, especially those ones that are becoming epidemic across the country.”
Dr Sanu said Federal Government needs to overhaul the NHIS to ensure that Nigerians have access to quality healthcare that is affordable and accessible. “The perennial problems of the scheme over the years had constituted it into an impediment rather than a utility to the average Nigerian. The Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) could be better regulated and should prop up their minimum packages, likewise, the government should improve on the remuneration of doctors, because they are rated among the best in the world,”he said.
He added: “It will do all of us a world of good if the scheme is modified and restructured to correct so many imbalances that have bedeviled it since it was launched. As a matter of fact, the NHIS deserves to be upgraded to accommodate the realities of our time. With the HMOs, as go-in-between patients and hospitals, access and quality of healthcare services to the patient has changed drastically.
“The HMOs are now like the middlemen in insurance, who have gone to source for the business at their own terms that we are not privileged to know exactly what they collected. But we know that what they pay the provider is peanuts and we are complaining. The HMOs are cutting cost just to win clients, in the process they lower standards, and at the end of the day they are not happy, the clients they are serving are not happy as well. At the end of the day, it looks like they are short-changing themselves to the detriment of the patients’ care. That is why the system is not fully working.”
Going down memory lane, he said Hippocratic Oath is still very sacrosanct for any medic and he does not support strikes.
He said:“I trained at Ibadan Medical School. I had wanted to study Obstetrics and Gyneacology, but there was no vacancy so I studied anesthesia. Many anesthesists’ lives back then weren’t too encouraging for they were not enthusiastic. I vowed not to settle for that kind of life. Many left for Saudi Arabia. I found my way to Lagos as a consultant and resolved not to work for anybody forever. That decision paid off.
“While working, I acquired much equipment. I stayed on for seven years in that employment backed with business by the side. My breakthrough came when I imported some equipment for a private company. I ploughed the profit into acquisition of land and started the construction of the hospital. Compassion sustains a medic in this profession; money should not be the priority.
“When we started, it was mainly more of private patients, who could afford the services, over the years, we began to have corporate patients. Initially, we had about fifty-fifty of private patients and corporate and the cost of consumable was not so high as many could still pay while only a few would owe. But time and clime have changed. Huge challenges abound such as cost of running the facility on diesels for 24/7 services is daunting.”
Shedding light on the name of the hospital, Dr Sanu said: “I got the name ‘Solid Rock’ by divine inspiration. Five years down the line a Redeemed Church equally caught the vision of the name and people tied the two, and actually assumed that the church owned the hospital. Solid Rock Hospital is founded on principled values, which make us compassionate to channel our energy around our patients, offering them an affordable option towards a healthier future. Every unit of our business is structured around our patient. Fully equipped with modern and state-of-the-art facilities, Solid Rock Hospital is very well positioned to serve patients better, offering professional and tailor made medical and dental packages to suit them. We are God fearing, professional, compassionate, cost effective, quality driven and humane in our care.“
His low point was when thieves attacked his facility, thinking that money was kept there and his high moments has always been seeing patients walk home healthy. And their relatives happy and relieved.
