The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday in Abuja called on the Federal Government to raise funds for revitalising Primary Health Care Centres across the country.
Dogara made the call at a Public Hearing on the need to avert National Health Crisis through revitalisation and adequate funding of primary healthcare system, organised by the House Committee on Health Care Services.
The speaker, represented by the House Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, said primary health care centres were the first point of call to majority of Nigerians living in rural areas and therefore needed to be revitalised.
He also said that one of the greatest problems hindering access to health care services was healthcare financing.
Dogara said: “The question is who pays for the treatment, who pays for the drugs the patient is receiving at the hospital or medical centres.
“The problem is not limited to Nigeria alone. It is a worldwide problem. However, the difference is that developed countries have fashioned out ways to handle the situation through different programmes.
“In Nigeria today, the government is using different methods to address public health financing.
“Unfortunately, the health financing system is still characterized by low investment by government, extensive out of pocket payments, limited insurance funding and low donor funding.”
Dogara said that Nigeria must find out ways to reduce or eliminate the barriers to access health care delivery through prepayments and subsequent pooling of funds in preference to direct out of pocket payments.
Chairman of the House Committee on Health Services, Chike Okafor said that the state of primary health care at the grassroots was disheartening.
Okafor said: “Currently, there are 774 Local Government Areas with 9,572 political wards in Nigeria. At least, each of the LGAs has one primary healthcare centre that is not functional.
“Most of these PHC centres lack drug supplies, basic health infrastructure and cannot boast of a good number of medical personnel.
“In fact, patients accessing these PHC centres can hardly afford the cost of transportation or cost of subsidised drugs due to the economic hardship facing most rural dwellers.”
He said that the effect of these was enormous on the human resource of the country.
He said: “In 2015 alone, malaria killed 192,284 people in Nigeria, diarrhoea killed 143,688, neonatal and maternal disorders killed 212,557 women and children.
“In other words, for every one person killed by terrorists, 36 Nigerians are killed by mosquitoes, 27 are killed by dirty water and 40 women and children died during pregnancy and childbirth.”
Okafor said since the attainment of Universal Health Coverage was hinged on full functionality of the PHC system, while current bottlenecks hindering the provision of efficient PHC system in the country should be identified.
He further suggested that efforts should be targeted at addressing these challenges in a holistic, inclusive and strategic manner.
In her goodwill message, wife of Senate President, Toyin Ojora-Saraki, Founder, Wellbeing Foundation Africa, said that providing affordable healthcare services at the grassroots at the right time and right place was not negotiable.
She said that government and stakeholders must invest heavily in PHC since 80 per cent of the population lived at the grassroots.
While advocating for transparent and accountable health care supply, Ojora-Saraki urged the Federal government to replicate the midwife scheme nationally.
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