Deplorable State Of Healthcare System In Nigeria – What Is The Way Forward?
Many have been troubled by Nigeria healthcare system which they describe as dysfunctional Leading to a drastic decline in the quality of services provided to citizens in Nigeria. It is a fact that there are many factors that seems to have been contributing to this decline in the health system and this many opine need urgent reforms.
For many years and till now, Nigeria is being referred to as the giant of Africa, yet the giant of Africa is grappling with many the challenges which poor healthcare is one of the major challenge citizen are being faced with.
This issue of poor healthcare system has reached a critical point that even the so called politicians do not feel safe to receive healthcare in their own country where they lead. The lay man has limited access to healthcare in Nigeria.
Furthermore, corruption has been a huge factor contributing to poor healthcare aswell as mismanagement of public funds, this has done nothing more than exacerbating the situation. There’s also the issue of miss allocation of funds and resources meant for improving healthcare. The lack of transparency keeps compounding the challenges faced by healthcare providers and patients.
There’s also the issue of the healthcare sector receiving meager percentage of the national budget, this has always led to lack of essential resources such as medical equipment, supplies and well trained personnel in this sector, even at the Government owned general hospitals, they lack lots of equipment and amenities to work with, while the private hospitals lack trusted professionals. This chronic underfunding has greatly affected citizens and led to the death of many.
As a result of these many issues affecting the healthcare sector, many Nigerians, including politicians have been forced and are still being forced to seek medical treatment abroad, which in a way keeps draining the country’s resources. A most recent example is the Late President Mohammadu Buhari, who went to the United Kingdom to seek medical attention but unfortunately died, another example is the present President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has on different occasions gone abroad to seek medical attention.
The disparity in access to quality healthcare services in Nigeria between the wealthy and average citizens continues to widen exacerbating the dire situation, thereby making only the rich buy their way through quality healthcare.
As a result of these issues, many Nigerians are forced to seek medical treatment abroad, draining the country’s resources and further highlighting the inadequacies of the local healthcare system. The disparity in access to quality healthcare services between the wealthy and the average citizens continues to widen, exacerbating the already dire situation.
It is very important for Government at all levels to treat this issue of poor healthcare seriously and address the challenges so as to revitalize Nigeria’s deplorable healthcare system and improve infrastructure, enhance regulatory mechanisms and show a commitment to transparency and accountability, these steps are possible ways to build a quality healthcare system and cater for the needs to the masses.
