Former minister of health, Adewole, others urge funding, decentralisation of health sector

The Former Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole has reiterated the need to increase allocation for the health sector and the involvement of medical doctors in politics.

Adewole speaking at the opening ceremony of the 12th Biennial Delegate Meeting 2021 of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) at the University College Hospital, (UCH), Ibadan, said that more medical doctors joining politics will ensure more representation because they understand health issues.

He declared: “If there are doctors in the national assembly they will understand why they must vote for more money. From my personal experience when the president of the Senate was a doctor he contributed significantly to the implementation of the basic health care provision fund.

“It would have been impossible if he was not a doctor. Doctors understand the issues and they will appropriately relate well with members of the profession.”

Adewole said also that health policymakers have been under enormous pressure in recent years over concerns about financial sustainability and cost-containment, adding, “still, emerging evidence is recasting health systems not as a drain on those resources but as an opportunity to fast-track development by investing in the population’s health.”

Provest, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Professor Olayinka Omigbodun said there was a need to decentralise the health sector to ensure that the three tiers of the health sector can be served by health personnel without being confined to the federal, state or local government levels.

Omigbodun, who noted that constitutional review as germane to restructuring, the health sector said health sector should be taken at the periphery for the people and by the people as being done in the developed countries. She identified constitutional review as germane to restructuring the health sector.

According to her, “Our healthcare delivery system needs a total overhauling for example the teaching hospitals are under the Federal Government, the general hospitals are under the state government and then the primary health care which is the grassroots are under the local government.

“At those three tiers, the health care delivery is being supervised by these three tiers and that is not going to work because you need to plan for the health of the people looking at each state or community within that confined area as a whole, not as scattered.

“So there must be a health planning team for each state or community that looks at the health of that geographical entity, such that when needs assessment of the place is done they will be able to identify the type of health facilities needed as well as the kind of health personnel,” she said.

In his address, Chief Medical Director, UCH, Prof Jesse Otegbayo said a memorandum of understanding has been signed by UCH with the Oyo State Government to improve the health sector at the state level.

According to him, “This is a situation whereby consultants from the hospital will go to some of the hospitals in Oyo State both within Ibadan and outside to consult and treat patients. This will bridge the human capital resources lacking in the Oyo State health sector and maximising the potentials of doctors in UCH.

“Not only that, Oyo State will be sending its personnel for training at UCH at no cost to the state government. This will take off soon, we are just waiting for COVID-19 to wear off,” he said.

Incoming National President of MDCAN and the Chairman Local Organising Committee, Dr Victor Makanjuola, also said the focus of the event was to deliberate on the challenges facing the health sector and proffer solutions for the way forward.

He noted that the theme of the event “Strengthening the Health System Amidst Dwindling Resources” was to looking for ways to meet this challenge amidst insecurity and poor welfare for medical practitioners.

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