Gov. Akeredolu says good healthcare service is citizen’s right

Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has described the provision of good healthcare as a basic right of every Nigerian citizen.

The governor made this statement at the opening ceremony of the 2019 Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Physicians’ Week on Tuesday in Akure.

Akeredolu, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Agboola Ajayi, said it was in realisation of a good healthcare system that his administration formulated policies aimed at boosting the healthcare delivery system.

According to him, his administration, in a bid to provide affordable and sustainable funding of quality healthcare service, has signed into law the establishment of the Ondo State Contributory Health Scheme.

He revealed that the scheme would soon commence free maternal and U-5 children services at the point of care.

Akeredolu added that approval had also been given for the procurement of more medical equipment worth millions of naira, as well as the recruitment of health workers to improve the diagnostic and therapeutic capacities of the primary healthcare system in the state.

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He noted that the theme for this year’s Physicians’ Week, ”Care for the Unknown Patient: An Overview” was apt and timely.

The governor said all the health policies in the state were targeted at all categories of the people, as no one knew who the next patient would be.

The NMA National President, Dr Adedayo Faduyile, said the association chose the theme for this celebration of the physicians’ week, to address the challenges faced by them, especially to call for a policy framework.

”The theme was chosen to bring to the fore the issues affecting Nigerians, who suddenly found themselves in an unconscious state from the trauma caused by road traffic accidents or medical conditions,” he said.

He lamented the situation where innocent Nigerians died in an emergency situation, due to lack of facilities to meet their needs, and called for more funds from the government at all levels to improve the health sector.

Meanwhile, the former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, speaking as the chairman of the 2019 NMA week, said the government had the responsibility to care for the unknown patients.

“Government has the responsibility to care for the unknown patient and must summon the necessary political will to do that,” he said.

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Mimiko said the current efforts to cater to the citizens requiring emergency care as provided for in the National Health Act 2014, must be made more practicable by decentralising the operationalisation of its provisions.

“Perhaps, the most impactful of the relevant laws is the National Health Act 2014, which does not only recognize the importance of state responsibility in emergency medical service but attempts to enact a sustainable financing strategy,” he said.

Mimiko said that every decent society should have a decent level of emergency medical services.

“We must pay attention to and invest in technology, as it will and will continue to disrupt settled assumptions in concept and practice in all fields”.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahab Adegbenro, said everyone had access to medical services without financial embarrassment in the state including the unknown patients.

He said a comprehensive contributory health scheme to cater to pregnant women, children and other people would soon be put in place, as part of the moves to boost health care delivery. (NAN)