Senate summons Adewole over deteriorating teaching hospitals

By Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The Senate on Wednesday summoned the Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole to answer questions over the deteriorating state of health institutions in the country, especially federal teaching hospitals

This was as the Senate ordered its committee on health to conduct an emergency investigative hearing on the state of healthcare services in teaching hospitals and report back within a week.

Also, it urged the federal government to immediately adopt short and long term measures that will holistically address the challenges facing the tertiary health institutions.

Equally, the Senate called on the federal government to adopt a policy on subsidizing medical expenses of patients with terminal ailments such as cancer and kidney failure.

This followed a motion by Sen. David Umaru(APC Niger) at plenary on Wednesday.

Presenting the motion, Sen. Umaru said recent reports of poor quality and high cost of services in the hospitals was worrisome.

He said according to reports, teaching hospitals across the country were burdened with widespread cases of poor electricity supply, obsolete medical equipment and decayed infrastructure among others.

Umaru stressed that the challenges had made it difficult for the hospitals to provide tertiary healthcare for patients with complex ailments such as cancer and kidney failure.

He noted that the teaching hospitals by their mandate were expected to train current and future medical personnel besides providing services on complex health matters.

“Several stakeholders in the health sector have recently raised alarm on declining quality of services in the hospitals amidst cases of overcrowding and lack of adequate funding and personnel.

“It is not news that most teaching hospitals in the country had been overstretched, forcing patients to sleep on bare floors, mats and other unhygienic conditions that put them at risk of contracting other ailments.

“It is worrisome that patients with terminal illnesses such as cancer and kidney failure are now compelled to travel long distances to access chemotherapy and dialysis at very high cost.

“This is the due to the absence of the requisite medical equipment for such services within their vicinity,” he said.

In his remarks, Senate President Bukola Saraki said there was a need for urgent intervention, saying that “it gives us great concern. No matter how inadequate funding for health is, it is a big shame that patients sleep on the floor.

“It is the issue of corruption. We need to strengthen the office of the auditor -general to check corrupt practices in the MDAs. How inadequate can funding be that there is no electricity when these hospitals generate revenue and have government allocations. We need to take a look at this matter as soon as possible.”