Putting care back into the healthcare system
The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), as well the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) recently undertook industrial action. Even without knowing the details of their grievances it’s difficult not to sympathize with health workers. They need help in their struggles.
Rectifying the abysmal state of government medical facilities nationwide will never be a priority for our leaders as long as they continue to receive treatment overseas at public expense. Still lingering in memory is the poorly handled public relations disaster surrounding the President’s extended “medical vacation”.
When the current Minister for Information Lai Mohammed was an opposition spokesperson he said that the health status of President Yar’adua is not to be hidden, or relate to only his family and friends alone, but to all Nigerians and furthermore that all Nigerians have the right to be updated about his health status daily. In a complete volte face, he was to later say that the President’s health is a “personal matter”.
Although Buhari’s decision to receive treatment overseas has been touted as his most notable broken election promise, recent disclosures about conditions within the State House Clinic have made it abundantly clear that he had little choice. The State House Clinic was established to cater for the medical needs of the President, Vice-President, their families and their aides. It’s supposed to be the best equipped in the country. It has been revealed that quite outrageously the Clinic lacks basic necessities such as syringes, gloves and drugs - even paracetamol!
Even though this is the norm with government health facilities in Nigeria, the fact is that over N3 Billion was budgeted for the clinic’s operations in 2016, and N331 million in 2017. It’s now been confirmed that the facility is in no position to treat anyone properly let alone a President. In a poorly thought out response to these revelations, State House spokespersons said that it’s all down to finances. They assert that the allocation received by the Clinic isn’t enough because all its services are offered free of charge. They claim quite incredulously that the drugs are always overwhelmed by the number of people who use the centre, because it is not controlled! This is simply an admission of failure.
Unless there is an unreported epidemic in the Villa, it’s a confession that people who aren’t qualified are receiving free treatment. It’s also likely that, as is also the norm in government hospitals, some officials may own pharmaceutical or patent medicine stores stocked with drugs and disposables “requisitioned” from the Clinic. Be that as it may there really can be no excuse for such a situation to exist within the State House. The Clinic must be put back into shape no matter the cost. It must become and remain a centre of excellence and source of national pride.
A statement by the Permanent Secretary State House denied that the situation has been caused by corrupt practices saying “it would be foolhardy and madness for anybody in his senses to defraud a medical centre of a kobo and toy with peoples’ lives. No sane person would do that”. Unfortunately for Nigeria there appears to be an increasing amount of foolhardy-ness madness and insanity concerning funding and operations of government medical facilities.
For example, two completed but nonfunctional modern hospital facilities have been in the news recently. In Edo State, an ultra-modern Annexe is lying fallow within the grounds of the State Specialist Hospital Benin City. It’s one of the several opaque Public/Private Sector projects incumbent Governor Obaseki’s predecessor Adams Oshiomhole embarked upon. An unspecified amount was spent on the abandoned structure. Ever since being “commissioned and opened” with so much fanfare by President Buhari, its doors have remained firmly shut without ever treating a single patient! Governor Obaseki says that there are no funds to run the facility.
In preference to funding the Annexe which would enhance citizens’ welfare and save lives, he is constructing a new High Court edifice! A similar but slightly different situation exists in Akwa Ibom where some patients were actually treated before the State-owned Ibom Specialist Hospital was shut down approximately two years after being completed and inaugurated. The Service Providers contracted to operate and administer the facility, pulled out because of disagreements over funding. The state government claims that they paid out “huge amounts” without much to show for it. They claim to be “looking for new investors”.
Governor Udom Emmanuel says that there are no funds to run the hospital. Meanwhile he is planning to build a new Governors lodge in Lagos having decided that the existing one is “too old”! Generally speaking, Governor’s don’t really bother about improving health delivery in local hospitals, because they don’t plan to use them. Even Udom’s predecessor, Godswill Akpabio, who built the Ibom Specialist Hospital declined to use it and subsequently travelled overseas for treatment! Successive Nigerian governments have underfunded and neglected the public health system.
As far back as 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that abandoned Federal Government health projects taken over by weeds were “commonplace” in Nigeria. In October 2016, it was reported that N2 Billion Primary Health Care Centres were wasting away nationwide. In June 2017, it was again reported that 26 hospital projects were abandoned in Imo State. The only way to put a stop to this scandalous situation is for Government to revisit its pledge to end medical tourism for public officials.
The spectacle of Nigerian leaders travelling overseas for treatment must end. Only then will the nation begin to progress down the road to providing accessible standard modern healthcare facilities for all. Our leaders must be forced to stop white elephant or non-priority projects and invest massively in our healthcare to demonstrate that they really do care.