House to Investigate Conditions of Facilities at Federal Teaching Hospitals

House to Investigate Conditions of Facilities at Federal Teaching Hospitals

By Udora Orizu

The House of Representatives at the plenary yesterday mandated the Committee on Health Institutions to investigate the condition of the facilities and amenities at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and all Federal University Teaching Hospitals in the country, including the budgetary provisions as well as their disbursement.

The House also urged the Federal Ministry of Health to upgrade all Federal University Teaching Hospitals to international standards.

The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion, titled, ‘’Need to Address the Deteriorating Infrastructure, Lack of Basic Amenities and Inhuman Treatment of Patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), sponsored by Hon. Ibrahim Obanikoro.

Moving the moving, Obanikoro noted that the Lagos University Teaching Hospital was established with the sole objective of improving on the experience and training of medical staff and to raise the standard of the medical industry in Nigeria.

He recalled that in September 2018, the Socio–Economic Right and Accountability Project (SERAP) drew the attention of the government to the deteriorating conditions of LUTH and other Federal Teaching Hospitals across the country, which include lack of capacity, infrastructure and basic amenities.

The lawmaker worries that the deplorable conditions of Federal Teaching Hospitals across the country could lead to loss of lives and erode the confidence of the people in Nigeria’s healthcare system, thereby instigating Medical tourism and brain drain.

He said if the funds appropriated for Teaching Hospitals are not properly monitored, they might be directed to other purposes, thereby contributing to decay in the health sector.

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