Nigeria@61: NARD urges FG to Improve Nigeria’s healthcare system

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), has urged the Federal Government to improve the healthcare system in the country as the nation marks its 61st independence anniversary.

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Speaking in an interview with NARD’s President, Dr. Dare Ishaya, said the lack of investment in the health sector has resulted in a deplorable state of the healthcare system and poor remuneration to health workers.

According to Dr. Ishaya, the health sector is nothing to write home about.

“The evidence is there for us to see that the health sector is still nothing to write home about because if you look at it, our president is still going abroad to access medical care. That is clear evidence that the healthcare system in the country is nothing to write home about.

“Even the policymakers and the government do not have confidence in the health system at 61. So, I believe things can be done differently and with genuine intentions, we can do more to reverse it,” he said.

Ishaya calls on the government to have a sober reflection and work towards improving the health sector in the country.

“If you look at countries that we started together, they have gone far. For instance, many Nigerians tour India for medical care. This is because the Indian government made deliberate efforts to improve and revamp its healthcare system.

“I call on the government to have a sober reflection and look inward to see if we have done anything good with our healthcare system. The evidence is there that we haven’t done much and we need to refocus our efforts on improving our healthcare system.

“They should know that there are events or calamities that can befall them and they may not be able to access healthcare abroad immediately; it is whatever is available within the country that will be used for them. So, assuming anybody in the government develops a heart attack, he has to be taken to a hospital that has cardiac catheterization laboratory, which is very limited within the country and it ought not to be so,” he said.

He described it as unfortunate that medical tourism thrives in the country despite promises by the government to curb it.

He urged the government should stop paying lip service to reverse medical tourism.

He said, “The issue of medical tourism outside the shores of this country is very unfortunate.

“The latest World Health Organisation survey ranks Nigeria’s healthcare system as the fourth-worst in the world, and this can be attributed to poor funding.

“Our annual budgetary allocation to health has consistently fallen short of the 15 per cent agreed by African countries at the “Abuja Declaration” in April 2001.”

The NARD boss noted that poor health infrastructure has made it impossible for the sector to grow and compete with the standard of healthcare available in other countries.

“Paltry remuneration to healthcare workers who on the other hand led to the massive efflux of our best brains to other countries in search of greener pastures.

“Nigeria, as things stand at the moment, is in double jeopardy; losing at both ends of the spectrum. We are losing health workers with over 8,000 medical doctors of Nigerian origin working in the UK, even as hundreds are being flown out to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.

“At another end, we are also losing money as experts say the country could be losing more than N576 billion ($1.2 billion) yearly to medical tourism.

“The solutions are as the problems are. The healthcare sector needs more funding to improve the infrastructure and remuneration to healthcare workers. Nigeria’s annual budgetary allocation should be at least 15 per cent as recommended.

“With improved infrastructure and remuneration, patients will have confidence in our hospitals and also workers will have better job satisfaction.

“Also, government officials and politicians should be banned from medical tourism especially for services that are available in the country.

“This will encourage the government to put more effort into improving the healthcare system in the country because their lives will depend on it directly,” he said.

MTO/Punch