The Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Federal Capital Territory branch, Dr Patrick Ezie, has called on the Federal Government to implement the National Health Act.
He made the call in a statement in Abuja on Friday. Ezie said the call was imperative to ensure that ‘’healthcare is made available and affordable to the most vulnerable population of our society’’.
He described the Act as a beautiful piece of legislation that strengthened the framework for healthcare provision but said that non-implementation of it remained a big setback.
According to Ezie, the Act also provides one per cent of the nation’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) to the Basic Healthcare Provision fund.
‘’The National Health Act is to ensure that the most vulnerable are taken care of.
“This Act provides for free emergency services, free maternal care, and treatment for under-fives and the elderly in the society as well as a robust strengthening of healthcare institutions.
“This will greatly complement the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) if we find the political will to implement it,’’ he said.
‘’NHIS and Health Management Organisations (HMOS) can be encouraged by developing health policies with a specific mandate to cater for the unique conditions of the vast majority of Nigerians.
‘’If such a scheme is successful, majority of unemployed Nigerians will have access to healthcare and this will bring us a step closer to Universal Basic Health Coverage.’’
On how to reinvigorate NHIS, Ezie called for increased effort on the part of government ‘’to ensure that we are moving in the direction of achieving universal basic health coverage’’.
He said that the health scheme was a vision that all responsible governments had for their citizens, adding that the Nigerian nation could not be left out in such essential service.
The NMA scribe also stressed the need for huge investment in the health sector, warning that ‘’if we fail today to invest in our health system, we will all suffer the consequences tomorrow’’.
He called for increased spending in the sector and strict and efficient utilisation of resources allocated to the sector through open contracting standards as part of good governance.
According to him, adopting such method will ensure efficiency in the sector and enable government and people to derive greater value for the money spent on health.
Ezie added that Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) should be encouraged in the health sector, and made as transparent and efficient as possible.
‘’This will ensure that the areas the public sector cannot delve into as a result of lean resources, they can be augmented by the private sector.’’
He further called for the establishment of a National Social Security System that would mandate all citizens to enroll for healthcare in institutions, with a special tax levied on the working class.
According to Ezie, such system will also enable the unemployed and the most vulnerable members of the society to benefit from the most basic level of care in the country.
