Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has traced Nigeria’s worrisome health care delivery to bad governance at all levels of government in the country before the 21st century.
Speaking on “Tackling the Challenge of Health and Social inequity in Ekiti State” as Guest Speaker at the 8th Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti memorial lecture in Lagos on Saturday, the Governor identified policy inconsistency, lack of political commitment, corruption, infrastructural decay, the undue politicization of the health sector and declining professionalism as problems militating against healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Dr Fayemi who noted that the factors militating against quality health care delivery in the country are many, added that lack of adequate constitutional and legal framework for healthcare delivery and absence of a National Health Act that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of government in the management of the three levels of healthcare have also contributed to the woes of the sector.
He said: “Other obstacles are weak co-ordination, integration and implementation of health policies and programmes; inadequate budgetary provisions for health, inequitable distribution of the health workforce and weak primary and secondary levels of care with a weak referral system.”
The Governor asserted that the nation’s health indices are uninspiring and worrisome as the health care delivery performance index is still struggling with those of “war torn and less endowed countries even after 52 years of independence”.
Fayemi added that Nigeria’s maternal morbidity and mortality figures are the second worst globally while there is high incidence of diseases ranging from cancer, HIV/AIDS and diabetes among others.
He explained that healthcare is a social service which is essential for sustainable economic production since health is wealth.
Governor Fayemi stressed that developing countries require bold and imaginative healthcare policies to accelerate the attainment of optimum socio-economic development with the people at the centre of policy planning.
Recalling the health situation in Ekiti State before his emergence as Governor in 2010, the Governor stated that many initiatives were designed andd implemented for the improvement of the health of the population yet structural inequity still persisted as the bane of the initiatives.
He added that a sizeable population of the people still lived below poverty line while access to qualitative health care services in rural areas is still far from ideal.
The Governor said the health agenda of his administration, which is focused on provision of free medical services for children under 5 years, all pregnant women, the physically challenged and elderly citizens above 65 years as well as establishment of health centres in all localities to increase immunization coverage, is aimed at resolving the issues of equity which had long rendered the sector incapacitated.
While speaking on the free mobile health missions embarked upon by his administration, Fayemi disclosed that as at the 7th edition of the mission, no fewer than 720,000 people, a quarter of the State’s population, have received free medical services.
The Governor hinted that the State Government is planning a Community Health Insurance Scheme in partnership with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in order to sustain the free health programmes.
He added that about One hundred and Twenty-five million Naira was distributed to citizens who were constrained by fund to take care of surgical and chronic medical illnesses within and outside the country.
Highlighting the efforts of the present administration in the State, Fayemi stated that the Government has embarked on a renovation of all health facilities across the State, constructed an Accident and Emergency Unit at the State University Teaching Hospital as well as procured 15 ambulances to take care of emergencies.
Last modified: June 5, 2013