CSOs demand probe of spending on clinic

Some campaigners have started calling for a probe, saying the budgets for the State House Clinic over the years must be investigated because they could not be justified since the hospital was not delivering the purpose it was meant for.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the Transparency International Nigeria (TIN), and the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), have expressed dismay over the state of health facilities in the country.

They were reacting to the billions expended on the State House Clinic, which cannot allegedly take care of the health needs of Kyari, leading to his being taken to an unnamed private hospital in Lagos.

CISLAC’s executive director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said “Nigeria has only two doctors per 1,000 citizens and 0.5 beds per 1,000 citizens.

According to him, “Health personnel are unable to effectively deliver essential services. In addition, over 90 per cent of the Nigerian population is without health insurance coverage and cannot afford even basic health care.

“CISLAC’s long-term experience in the health sector shows the inability to effectively address numerous public health challenges. Corruption, limited institutional capacity and an unstable economy are major factors responsible for the poor development of health services in Nigeria.

“If the N13bn has been actually used for the State House Clinic, the situation would have been different and same applied to the general health sector in the country,” he said.

“Those it was meant to serve are still spending taxpayers’ money to seek treatment elsewhere,” said Human Rights campaigner, Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi.

Zikirullahi said it was unjustifiable that the State House Clinic would be gulping billions of taxpayers’ money and those the facility was meant to serve would still be spending millions to seek treatment in other private facilities within and outside the country. He therefore called for a comprehensive audit of the spending on the facility and of the health sector in the country.

The President of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Francis Adedayo Faduyile, said despite its huge natural resources, Nigeria’s health system is very weak and could collapse in the event of a large outbreak.

He recently told Bloomberg that “the health system is not strong enough,” saying “Over the years, it has been denied normal funding and things are not where they supposed to be.”

According to him, “If the burden of the coronavirus is added, it (health system in Nigeria) may be too heavy, it may actually collapse.”