Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, said at the weekend that the increasing exit of medical doctors and other health professionals from Nigeria could be disastrous to Nigeria’s health care system if not checkmate.
Etteh confirmed that she, periodically, visit hospitals abroad for medical attention, and 80 percent of medical doctors that attend to her health needs in foreign hospitals are Nigerians.
She told the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who paid a working visit to National Hospital, Abuja, at the weekend, that she was particularly surprised that larger percentage of the doctors, nurse or other health care professionals who are currently practicing abroad were all trained in Nigeria.
Etteh who is the Chairman of the Governing Board of National Hospital linked the desire of the doctors to leave Nigeria to poor working environment and renumeration that would have encouraged them to remain and practice in Nigeria.
She said: “Records indicate that there’s no day that a doctor or nurse leave Nigeria for foreign practice. We need to stop that, and we know what to do to achieve that. People makes country or city great, and we have such people here who are waiting for opportunities to make Nigeria great.
“Our goal is to have a hospital that Nigerians would be proud to identify with. We have over 100 medical Consultants at various departments who are willing to provide good health care services to Nigerians.”
She solicited the support of the Minister particularly in mobilising financial and logistics support to ensure that, at least 60 percent of medical equipments required for various services in the hospital are provided.
Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Director, National Hospital, Abuja, Dr. Jaf Momoh, in his remarks, disclosed that over N20 million worth of medical services is waived by the hospital on annual basis due to inability of patients to pay for the services.
He assured the government that other measures/platforms have been developed to ensure that patients are given proper health care services irrespective of their social or financial status.
The Minister, in his response, appreciated the commitment of the Board and management of the hospital to steady growth and development in the hospital as evident in the efficiency and effectiveness of medical services in the hospital.
He reminded them of the significant drop in government revenue, hence the need for ingenuity in generation and management of available funds for maximum benefit of the hospital and patients.
He disclosed the plans to expand the health insurance coverage to further achieve universal health coverage, as well as the immediate plan to implement the patient management component of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).
“We are hopeful that in few months time, the implementation will kick off and patients will be benefit maximally from it,” he said.