If the
general election had been held on February 14th 2015 Nigerians would
have known who their next President is, but the power that be coupled with some
administrative laxity on the part of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
decided to shift the date till March 28th 2015. The power-play and
propaganda witnessed during the campaign period is enough to throw the country
into confusion but majority of Nigerian populace has grown thick skin to the unpleasant
antecedents of the political class. In this article, my major concern is not to
juxtapose the strength of the two major political parties but to bring to the
fore one of the key sector of the economy ignored by the political gladiators
in their campaign and that key factor is not other than HEALTH SECTOR.
Let me start
with the age long saying that ‘HEALTH IS
WEALTH’ and as we all know that without fitness, health and agility the body is
just like a car without an engine therefore it could hardly perform optimally.
I have been following up with the camaraderie and deceptions in the name of
campaigns and manifestos by the PDP and
APC respectively, the greater part of their message is centered upon
taking over power and retaining power at all cost from one another. To whom
much is given, much is expected, Nigerians do not expect less from Government
in certain areas of social welfare like Health, Security, Electricity, Basic Education,
Road and other basic infrastructures. Therefore it will not be too much to ask
the Government at all levels to provide FREE medical services to all the
citizens of this great nation considering the vast and abundant wealth at our
disposal, also taking into cognizance the colossal thievery and corruption
going on in the corridor of power, this amount in billions of dollars are either
being stolen, siphoned, laundered, mismanaged and corruptly diverted into
private pockets of our leaders is enough to provide FREE MEDICAL CARE for
everyone in this Nation. However, our leaders both the present FG led by the
PDP and the opposition parties largely led by APC are complacent on this issue
by not providing enough for the Health system to function effectively.
PATRICK SAWYERR
of Liberia really expose the lag in the Health management system of this
country when he came with the EBOLA virus into the country last year August 2014,
save for the fire brigade approach of the Lagos State Government, Nigeria would
have been worst hit by the lethal virus. According to the World Health Organization
(WHO) standard of doctor-patient ratio 1:600, Nigeria currently posts a poor
doctor-patient ratio of 1:3500. In the last 6months I have had the cause to
experience the nepotism that is prevalent in our health sector. As we all know, only the rich and mighty in the society could afford to fly abroad for sophisticated and advanced medical services. The reason for this class distinction is not far-fetched, it is because they know the state of our health system and they dread the possibility of losing their lives while receiving medical attention at our local hospitals.
experience the nepotism that is prevalent in our health sector. As we all know, only the rich and mighty in the society could afford to fly abroad for sophisticated and advanced medical services. The reason for this class distinction is not far-fetched, it is because they know the state of our health system and they dread the possibility of losing their lives while receiving medical attention at our local hospitals.
Sometimes
last year, my mum had complications arising from overdose prescription given to
her by a Doctor at the Lagos-State General Hospital, she was recently diagnosed
of diabetes and periodically she visit the general Hospital on appointments, on
one of this appointment, a particular Doctor prescribed two different Drugs whose
purpose is the same to her, unknown to my mother she ignorantly take the drugs
as prescribed but few days later she was vomiting and having profuse nose
bleeding. I got an emergency call from my father about her condition and I rushed
down to my parent’s house, when I saw her I almost burst crying as she was pale
and dry already, she had lost all her energy and she could barely stand on her
feet. She steps out of the sitting room to ease herself and when I didn’t see
her after 5mins I knew something was wrong, I was going to check her at the
toilet when I met her halfway and I saw blood dripping from her nose, at that
moment I couldn’t hold back the tears and my instincts tells me instantly the
drugs must have been the course of her ordeal.
Immediately, I asked about her drugs and she told me the day she had started taking the last prescription was when the problem started. I told her to stop taking the drugs instantly. We applied the scent leaf (efinrin) to the bleeding nose and it stopped. Thereafter, I pleaded with her to relax and rest till the following day so she could have strength to visit the hospital and make complain. She was at the hospital with my junior brother the next day and when she met with a Doctor and her drugs was screened, the Doctor was said to have screamed out so loud about the overdose, the
Immediately, I asked about her drugs and she told me the day she had started taking the last prescription was when the problem started. I told her to stop taking the drugs instantly. We applied the scent leaf (efinrin) to the bleeding nose and it stopped. Thereafter, I pleaded with her to relax and rest till the following day so she could have strength to visit the hospital and make complain. She was at the hospital with my junior brother the next day and when she met with a Doctor and her drugs was screened, the Doctor was said to have screamed out so loud about the overdose, the
statement the Doctor uttered was that ‘’who wants to kill this woman?”. She was eventually given other relieving drugs and one of those earlier drugs prescribed was trashed in the waste bin. The point of the matter is, our General Hospital is nothing to be written home about if you had been there before, they attend to people as if they are doing you a favour, the Aged are not specially taken care of except and unless you know one Matron or the Medical Director. In addition, it is a charade that Drugs in the Lagos state Hospitals are FREE for the Aged and the children, how will you explain a prescription of drugs worth N12, 000 and the only free drugs they will give you is paracetamol which is not costlier than N100, they will always tell you they don’t have the other drugs whose prices starts from N1, 000 upwards on the list, whereas a visit to the FEE PAYING pharmacy right inside the General Hospital, those drugs would be abundantly available, what a world of fraud!
Similarly,
just in December 2014, my father developed what we initially thought was old
age sickness, after taking him to the hospital for medical check-up, we were
asked to carry out series of tests and we gladly did at Rauf Aregbesola health
facility at Okunola Egbeda Lagos-State and another Laboratory nearby. I thank
God for my father’s health, in more than 3decades that I have known my father,
he has not been admitted in a hospital before and the same thing goes for us
the children, I have only been admitted once when I was just age 0-2yrs and
ever since the hospital bed has not been my place, same for my two other
siblings. To cut long story short, when the result of the tests came out we were
referred to a Consultant at the Lagos State General Hospital LASUTH In Ikeja to
give medical advice on my father’s health status, the Doctor through his body
language shows the attitude reminiscent of ‘I am doing you a favour’, I was
still with the medical report and my father was still walking by himself and
you had concluded that my father has Parkinson disease. Unfortunately, the day
of the appointment coincided with the day the medical workers commenced strike
action nationwide. He requested for a consultant fee of N5, 000 and prescribed
some drugs, and then he asked us to check back in two weeks afterwards. Being a
learned person myself, I goggled about Parkinson disease and although my father
could have one or two similar traits of the said disease but he didn’t have
much of the traits that constitute Parkinson disease. The Doctor just wanted to
create fear in us so we could continually pay him consultancy and treatment
fees he had asked for. At the end of the day I took my father to a specialist
hospital in Abeokuta Ogun State where I ordered that another test be conducted
to determine if he has Parkinson or not, once the result was out the Physician
told me what my Dad was experiencing is largely due to old age (73+) and
because he had engaged in casual work as a building contractor during his
active life.
Although the cost of visiting the private specialist hospital was costlier but it was worth it because we could have lost him as there was no medical services throughout the strike action by the medical workers which just ended this February 2015.
Although the cost of visiting the private specialist hospital was costlier but it was worth it because we could have lost him as there was no medical services throughout the strike action by the medical workers which just ended this February 2015.
According
to the World Health Organization, the Probability of dying between 15 and 60
years m/f (per 1 000 population, 2012)
is 371/346, also the Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (2012) is 6.1%.
In the light of the foregoing, the campaigns and propaganda of both the ruling PDP
and the opposition APC has not emphasize much on our health policy. They have
only been busy blowing the trumpet of TRANSFORMATION AGENDA and ringing the
bell of CHANGE. When will our leaders have compassion for the teeming masses
who only wants a tiny piece of the cake in form social infrastructures and not
the billions and trillions frittered away in the name of campaign funds?
In
my own layman suggestions, I will like to see whoever will assume the mantle of
leadership in the next dispensation to give topmost priority to the following
health related issues:
1.
Resolve Long-Waiting
times issue, Stock outs of essential drugs/supplies
2.
Client
dissatisfaction
3.
Overworked health
care workers
4.
Adequate funding
of the health sector
5.
Training and
re-training of medical practitioners
6.
Upgrading of
Hospital facilities
7.
Prevent incessant
actions by health workers
8.
Proper regulation
of the Medical ethics/code of practice
9.
Increase in
Health campaign and awareness
10.
Independent
medical profiling of patients
11.
Enactment of
stricter health act or legislation promoting health programmes in the media
12.
Better emergency management system
13.
Shun nepotism and favoritism
14.
Accord the Aged, children and the less privileged
the necessary medical services as part of social responsibility
15.
Mandate companies whether public or private to
set aside a certain percentage of their profit as medical insurance for their
staff.
16.
Adequate internal and external supervision and
control to reduce medical negligence
17.
Total Audit of all the medical personnel in
the country to determine the level of compliance with the Standard medical
practice.
18.
Enforcement of stricter laws to ban public
office holders from seeking medical services outside the country except in
extreme situations.
19.
Setting up a health plan that will guarantee
FREE Health services for the citizens
20.
Plug the loopholes where all the
aforementioned issues could cause leakages again.
For
the full details on the content of the NATIONAL HEALTH BILL go to this site and
get the update…..http://bit.ly/1zI1r5q
Olanite
Lekan
08034201291
No comments:
Post a Comment