HOW TO SAVE THE HEALTH SECTOR FROM EMINENT COLLAPSE AND RESTORE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE ON OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS
The Worsening State of The Nigeria Health Sector and the need to set up new enabling policy for healthy development of the sector.
The world health systems is improving as a result of general improvement in professional development in the health sector worldwide.
While nations of the world are celebrating breakthrough in different areas of health care, it is worthy of note that the Nigeria health sector is immersed in an unhealthy battle of supremacy among medical professionals.
This should not be a surprise as the Nations health sector is still being regulated by military decree enacted more than four decades ago, The world has since left Nigeria behind.
The result of been left behind is what we are witnessing today, there is increase in medical tourism costing the nation billions of naira, increased industrial actions by health workers, poor public health indices, dormant research centers, poorly equip hospitals, people visiting prayer centers instead of hospital etc
The result is shown clearly by our presidents, top government officials past and present who are flown abroad for medical attention. Not too long ago even the senate president David Mark was in Isreal for same purpose, our late Dr Dora Akuyili are many others are glaring examples showing the failure our health systems.
The result is the increasing number wealthy Nigerians who die outside the country and are flown back into the country for burial. Am sure even the minister health past and present go outside the country to seek medical attention.
Each year billions of Naira is allocated to the Health Sector with no corresponding improvement, the average Nigerian has lost confidence in our health care systems. The ugly professional rivalry in the health sector is destroying every little achievement made so far.
The greatest “beneficiary” of this sector however are the Nigeria physicians instead of the patient , as all the existing laws are twisted to “favor” them, unlike other countries of the world where the health sector is managed by qualified health administrators, ours is managed by those without hospital administrative knowledge.
Physicians under the umbrella of NMA have insisted and forced successive governments in this country to appoint it members as ministers of health, commissioners, as against international best practices and even the laws of the land,
NMA use these positions occupied by them exclusively to suppress other professionals in the sector to satisfy their superiority driven ambition and ensure uninterrupted corrupt activities at the detriment of better health care delivery.
As it is today the minister of health, the minister of state health are physicians, all agencies and department in the sector are headed by physicians too, all board members of hospitals are physicians, are other health professionals are not carried along in decision making regarding the sector.
NMA is still pushing that their members become the head of each hospital department, they want to head the nursing department, pharmacy department, laboratory department,even security and laundry units.
This exclusion has created deep rooted hatred between health workers, even among medical students. The continuous treatment of health workers in the country who are not physicians as second class health workers has created a hostile hospital environment, it is the greatest undoing of the sector.
Our health as a people must not be mortgaged for professional superiority show, to restore back the lost confidence on the sector and for healthy professional development to take place in the health sector, there is need to formulate a health policy that is all inclusive and which allow every professional in the sector to get to the climax of their career.
A policy that will ensure continuous and compulsory improvement of every medical professionals is all that is needed at this time, this will give everyone in the sector a sense of professional satisfaction, create a friendly health care environment and the result will be a better health care system for the country.
I wish to call on the presidency to without delay convey a national stake holders conference to develop a national health policy that will drive the sector and prevent eminent collapse of the health sector.
The stack holders conference should be an all inclusive gathering of all professionals working in the health sector duly represented, for fairness the federal ministry of health should not be the organizer of the conference to avoid hijacking by a particular profession.
An erudite seasoned administrator who is not a medical doctor should lead the deliberation, the outcome of that conference should serve as our national health policy for the next ten years.
This conference will consider and resolve issues such as the term “medically qualified”, health and hospital administration, continuous professional development, pay relativity, hazard allowance, set sector growth target for the next ten years to thirty years period.
God bless Nigeria!
Written by Amos Toroko.