Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu and the pioneer President of Nigeria Academy of Medicine, (NAMED), Prof. Samuel Ohaegbulam have urged presidential candidates and gubernatorial candidates contesting in the 2023 general election to tell Nigerians their plans to revamp the health sector.
Ohaegbulem, said the parties and their presidential candidates should give Nigerians their plans for health and how to implement and make it successful.
Speaking in an interview with THISDAY shortly after giving a lecture at an event organised by the medicine academy in Abuja at the weekend, Ohaegbulem said Nigerians should demand from the presidential candidates not just their plans for improving the healthcare system but how to better fund the sector if elected.
” Days are gone when you just read nice proposals of what you want to do but will not be able tell us how to generate funds to implement it. The candidates must state how the funding is going to be done and then people will check to see if what they are saying makes sense or not,” he said.
He added that, “Hopefully with the elections coming and with the possibility of more committed leaders emerging. We hope we can dialogue with them and convince them to do something about the health sector because it is progressively deteriorating.”
Ohaegbulem said the over 50 associations in the health sector have been making effort to promote the sector and yet the public is not feeling the impact due to poor funding.
“We have worked over the years to make suggestions, a lot of mandates, a lot of documents in the Presidency and ministry but you will ask yourself what has come out those efforts,” he said.
According to him, the reason there was no much progress the health sector was because the financing deficit is very outrageous.
Ohaegbulem who is the proprietor of Memfys Hospital located at Trans-Ekulu in Enugu, lamented that the kind of budget approved at state and federal level for the health sector is absolutely ridiculous.
For instance, he said one of the hospital equipment he negotiating to acquire is put at almost a billion Naira.
“So how can you run health services with such poor budget that the government releases every year and that is announced budget most of which may not be backed up with cash releases in the end.
“We pray that 2023 will bring on board people who are more committed, appreciate the problem and tackle them,” he added.
When asked to state in specific terms areas in the health sector he would like to see great improvement on, the expert said, “Health Insurance Scheme, that is the answer. Without a successful health insurance, we can never generate enough revenue to tackle all the health challenges, it is impossible. So there has to be compulsory health insurance and if people cannot afford to pay, then government can help them, family members can help them.
He expressed optimism that the policy of compulsory health insurance will succeed with more advocacy and sensitization to make people appreciate the benefit. “This can be achieved and many countries have achieved this,” he said.
Also speaking to THISDAY on the milestones recorded by Nigeria on her 62 Independence anniversary celebration, especially in the health sector Chukwu said though the country has made some improvement in healthcare services, a lot still need to be done address the negative health indices being recorded in Nigeria.
He said that there was need to set the right agenda for incoming leaders at various levels of government in the 2023 general election, so that adequate attention can be given health sector funding in the next dispensation.
