Government not serious about health issues – former AKTH CMD

The former Chief Medical Director of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Dr AbdulHameed Isa Dutse has said that all the three tiers of government in Nigeria do not take health issues seriously.

Speaking yesterday at a lecture series on Human Resource for Health in Nigeria, organized by the Faculty of Dentistry Bayero University, Kano, Dutse said this un seriousness could be seen from the budgetary allocation to health.

In his words, “In my opinion, the three tiers of government have really never taken health as a serious issue based on their miserable budgetary allocation to health over the years and in particular there has never been any serious allocation of funds on human resource for health,” he said.

He added that building of structures was not enough because it is not the structures that would do the work. “It is usual to hear these leaders beating their chest that they have built this health facility or that expensive health related equipment but you never hear them talking about how much health manpower they have developed to match and utilize these expensive investment,” he observed.