AGAINST the backdrop of dwindling budgetary allocations to the health sector by the different arms of government in the country, a former president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Osahon Ebabulele has predicted a nationwide collapse of health services.
Ebabulele who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune in Benin at the weekend, said that it was worrisome that none of the 36 states in the federation and the Federal Government had met the 15 per cent yearly budgetary allocation to the health sector as recommended by the United Nations.
He lamented that most local governments, state governments and the Federal Government still allocate less than five per cent of their annual budget to the critical health sector.
Almost 36 years after former head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha described the nation’s hospitals as “mere consulting clinics” in his coup speech which heralded the first coming of President Muhammadu Buhari in 1983, the ex-NMA president insisted that nothing has changed.
Ebabulele charged: “Over 36 years after Gen. Sani Abacha described our hospitals as mere consulting clinics in his coup speech, it will interest you to know that things are worse off. Less than half of the five per cent budgetary allocation to the health sector gets released.”
He said that the numerous primary health care centres and secondary hospitals in the country have broken down, a situation which he insisted has led to tertiary health institutions being overwhelmed with patients whose ailments ought to have been handled at those levels.
Ebabulele, of the department of family health at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), said that it was cause for concern that the nation’s universal health coverage was still at a dismal four per cent.
He added: “Here at UBTH, we are inundated with patients who have a cold, catarrh and cough. These are diseases which ordinarily supposed to be treated at the primary health centres and secondary hospitals. If our primary health centres and secondary hospitals are well funded and staffed, tertiary hospitals will be able to cater to patients with a disease like cancer.”
As a way out, he advised that the different arms of government should as a matter of fact increase budgetary allocation to the health sector so as to be able to provide drugs, equipment and employ staff to man the different health centres and hospitals.