‘Nigeria can’t achieve universal health coverage with weak LGs’

A former Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole has said that weak local government structures and poor financing of the health sector were the two principal factors militating against the achievement of universal health coverage in Nigeria.

Adewole, therefore, urged the state governors to allow independence of the local government to strengthen the primary healthcare facilities.

He stated this in Ado Ekiti yesterday during the 2021 annual general meeting and scientific conference of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ekiti chapter.

Adewole called for the decentralisation of the health facilities in the country to decongest the secondary and tertiary health cadres.

He said, “All Nigerians must have access to quality healthcare delivery. The one that is affordable, one that is qualitative and we can’t achieve these with inadequate funding, inadequate human resources and lack of decentralisation of the healthcare facilities.

“All stakeholders should come together to support universal health coverage for our citizens. The governors must allow local government autonomy, so that they can take care of the primary healthcare facilities, while funding should also come from the federal and state governments as support.

“For us to ensure that every Nigerian doesn’t die of avoidable diseases, there was the need to quickly decongest the teaching hospitals. Our people shouldn’t go into death over little diseases.”