National Healthcare Act, key in improving healthcare system

A call has been made to government and relevant stakeholders in health sector to push for full implementation of the National healthcare Act which is instrumental in improving the poor health indices in Nigeria.

Recent statistics have confirmed what every Nigerian knows that Nigeria’s health indices is bad, and as a matter of urgency intensified efforts is needed to revamp that critical sector of the country.

Speaking on Thursday in Abuja, during the annual General meeting of Nigerian Medical Association Abuja chapter, the chairman of Health Sector Reform Coalition, Dr Benjamin Anyene described the Nigerian situation as embarrassing, citing instances of doctors fleeing the country to seek greener pastures and fatigue from international donors organizations because the situation is not improving.

He said “Extrapolations from the MDCN statistic suggests that the doctor to patient ratio in Nigeria is about 1 doctor to 4200 Nigerians”

“In May 2018 alone, more than 120 Nigerian doctors sought to leave the shores of this country for good.

Anyene reassured that the National Healthcare act will go a long way in solving most of the financial inadequacies in the system.

“The federal government in particular and state governments should strive towards the full implementation of the National Healthcare act of 2014 as it provides very low hanging fruits to pluck towards improving health care delivery”.

He stated that the implementation of the act will serve as a scorecard in assessing progress, identifying lapses and minor slips before it metamorphose into national disasters.

He shares a different view about the plan to pilot the act in some selected states, he described it as pumping money into dark holes.

“How can you pilot the NH act in some states, I make bold to say that only the full implementation of the act, holds the key to improving health care indices in Nigeria”

“The vitality of the health system is a function of the availability of financing and maintenance managers as well as Human Resources.”

“And improve resource prioritization and allocation is the only panacea to improving our health indices as a country.”

On his part, the chairman of Nigerian Medical Association NMA Abuja chapter Achonwa chiedozie, said one of the ways to reverse Nigeria’s poor health indices is to train stakeholders especially in primary healthcare centers on global best practices in treating patients.

He said “as critical stakeholder NMA wants the public to know that there is a need for all of us to cooperate in improving the health sector in the country.

“We are tired of Nigeria always coming last anytime there is a release of global development index.”