80% of deaths in rural communities linked to weak PHC system – Oyo NMA

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Oyo State Branch, said deficiencies in the primary healthcare system are responsible for up to 80% of deaths in rural communities, reflecting the health reality in Nigeria.

According to NMA, the health situation in Nigeria is a reflection of lost lives, underprivileged communities, and untapped potential, highlighting the need to improve each link in the healthcare value chain.

Speaking at a virtual press briefing to kick off the association’s 2025 Physicians’ Week with the theme “Healthcare as a Value Chain: Building Efficiency From Policy to Patient”, Dr Happy Adedapo, the chairman of the Oyo State NMA, claimed that Nigeria’s healthcare system is overburdened, underfunded, and performing poorly.

According to Dr Adedapo, an integrated, responsible, and efficient health system is desperately needed, with every element—from patient care to policy creation—optimised to provide genuine value to the Nigerian people.

He stated that financing health is the lifeblood of the chain, the workforce is the human engine of healthcare’s value chain, and policy without accountability is a broken promise.

“We often invest energy at the downstream end, which is the patient encounter, without adequately strengthening the upstream processes that determine success: policy coherence, financing mechanisms, workforce sustainability, and system integration. The consequence is a health system that is overstretched, underfunded, and underperforming,” he said.

The NMA boss, therefore urged intentional incentives and supportive policies to address the exodus of skilled professionals to prevent the health system’s collapse.

“In the past, every general hospital in Oyo State boasted of at least five and seven doctors, unlike now, when some general hospitals don’t even have any doctors currently. Those that have up to three or four will not be up to five hospitals in the entire Oyo State,” he added.

Although the number of facilities built or equipment purchased is not enough for hospitals in the country, he declared that what matters is whether patients are healthier, whether maternal deaths are declining, whether life expectancy is rising, and whether trust in the system is restored.

He advocated for a thorough policy reform that is driven by execution and quantifiable accountability, a re-engineering of health funding that prioritises primary and preventive care, and the revitalisation of the workforce to increase efficiency in the healthcare value chain, from policy to patient.

Additionally, Dr Adedapo called on the workforce to view Physicians’ Week as a call to renew the commitment to a sustainable, equitable, and effective health system, as well as a celebration of the honourable profession.

He said, “NMA stands ready to work with all levels of government, partners and the public to ensure that healthcare in Nigeria truly delivers value from policy to patients.”

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