Nigerian Senate Considering State Of Emergency In Health Sector

Senate yesterday said it was disturbed by the decay of infrastructure in the public healthcare institutions in the country and urged the federal government to declare state of emergency in the health sector.
Specifically, the Senate is concerned over inadequate financing of the health sector and called on the executive to provide special funding in the 2018 national budget for the overhaul of at least, one government-owned medical facility in each of the six Geo-political zones of the country, yearly.
The decision followed a motion by Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi (APC Kaduna North) during plenary in Abuja yesterday.
Tagged, “Urgent need for the declaration of emergency in the public health care sector over decay of infrastructure”, the motion stated that epileptic power and inadequate water supply resulting in unhygienic conditions was major cause of infrastructural decay in public health institutions.

Leading the debate, Senator Hunkuyi noted that critical diagnostic equipment such as MRI, CT scan and ultrasound, among other essentials for providing efficient diagnosis were non-functional or not available in most of the institutions.
According to him, “Lack of life-saving medicament and drugs which are inadequate and in most cases unavailable to dispense to the patents, who throng these facilities in search of treatment for their various conditions.
“The sorry situation in our public health institutions has resulted in increased medical tourism by Nigerians, with the attendant outflow of hard earned foreign currency to the tune of several millions of dollars spent on medical care annually in Europe, America, Asia and even some African countries to the detriment of our health institutions.
“This sorry state of affairs has rendered our hospitals and other healthcare facilities ineffective resulting in dire consequences for the citizenry”.

March 14, 2018