National health bill key in sanitizing Nigeria’s health sector

Sick patients awaiting medical care

...as bill awaits President Jonathan’s assent

Health has often been said to be ‘wealth’. However, a country with a largely unhealthy population cannot progress economically, increase her Gross Domestic Product per capita nor experience economic development, which is measured primarily by economic growth.

As Vision 20:2020 aims at putting Nigeria on the world economic map, stakeholders in the nation’s health sector are skeptical that this vision may not materialized since the nation is off track in the achievement of health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); improving child, and maternal health as well as ensuring environmental sustainability.

While there are fears that Africa may not achieve the MDGs if Nigeria does not, coupled with cases of Nigerians (both young and old) dying of different preventable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, vaccine preventable disease of childhood, maternal and neonatal conditions, stakeholders in the health sector say that signing the National Health Bill by President Goodluck Jonathan will not only sanitise the sector, but further reverse the current trend in a bid for Nigeria to achieve the MDGs.

In an exclusive interview with BusinessDay, Temiye Edamisan, Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA) Lagos State branch, disclosed that the signing of the bill by the President will bring back sanity in the country’s health system.

While expressing worry over inability of President Jonathan to assent to the National Health Bill, Edamisan noted that non availability of legislation regulating the entire health system has stylishly silenced some important medical practices such as family medicine.

According to the NMA chairman “The engine of medical practice, which is the family medicine is no longer in Nigeria due to insufficient family physicians. The number of family physicians is very few in Nigeria and it is a major source of concern. Besides that, the health system in the country is not regulated. There is no law regulating the practice. Unfortunately, the only law that will start regulating it is now being delayed and we are worried.”

Edamisan, who argued that because certain individuals in the health sector feel different about the Bill should not discourage the president from assenting to Bill, explained that the bill, modified from other countries would take care of the health needs of every Nigerian.

“Because a portion of the Bill says a medical doctor must head the tertiary health commission should not bring problem. In that Bill, every regulatory body is recognised. In that Bill too, there are primary healthcare commission and four or five other commissions and it did not mention that it will be a medical doctor that will be the head. That Bill is so supposed to care for children and adults. A particular amount of money has been set aside to provide basic minimal healthcare for every Nigerian in that Bill. Yet, they don’t care about that, all they wanted is headship. I think something is wrong,” Edamisan revealed.

 

President Goodluck Jonathan

On the issue that more powers is bequeathed to the Health minister in the National Health Bill, the NMA chairman explained that the Bill stipulates that no one manipulates an embryo or take a tissue from anybody except he or she is qualified to do so and must take permission from the head of the ministry which is the minister of health as this is the standard practice in places like the United States of America and other developed nations across the globe.

In a similar fashion, Nkechi Anyanwu, National Chairman of Nigerian Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists (NAHAP), noted that the President Jonathan should urgently address the issues raised by the various health professionals on the National Health Bill and other issues currently strengthening the long time disharmony in the health sector.

While speaking recently during their 13th Annual Scientific Conference with the theme: Hospital Pharmacy Practice & National Development”, said some provisions in the Bill had only succeeded in deepening the disharmony within the sector.

Calling on the President to wade into certain grey areas in the Bill, Anyanwu cited the provision for the Chairman, National Tertiary Hospital Commission that was made exclusively for medical doctors of 10 years experience in a teaching hospital.

“My worry is that in a situation where you have in the health sector different health professionals, what is the basis and criteria for only a particular profession to produce the head of the commission. One would have thought that the chairman of that commission is occupying an administrative position and that the main consideration would have been a high degree in management qualification. Why should a particular profession be made the head of that commission?” Anyanwu expressed.

While lack of political will and commitment by past leaders on the issue of health of the Nigerian people has made the health care delivery system of Nigeria inefficient, ineffective and inequitable –a notion that was also expressed by the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu at the flag-off of free eye surgeries for patients of sight defects by an American agency earlier this year, there is need for political leaders and decision makers at the federal, state and local government levels to take that decision to make health of the Nigerian people a top priority. They have to show Nigerians that they are concerned about their survival; their right to life.

No doubt, the National Bill when passed would not only provide the platform for innovative ways of raising financial resources for sustainable healthcare in Nigeria, guarantee fairness in the allocation of resources or the treatment outcomes among different individuals or groups, but also avail Nigerians the opportunity to obtain the best possible value for the resources used, have access to the health services they need by removing or reducing financial and physical barriers, as well as ensure robust provision for coordination, financing, expenditure tracking and community participation which will ensure sustainability thus improve the current weak health system.