5 Days To Nigeria’s Historical First October -By Mukhtar Garba Kobi

As people say ‘Health is Wealth’ but in Nigeria today reverse is the case as many lost their lives because of poor healthcare mostly in public heath centres. In some villages, whenever people fall sick the tendency of survival is uncertain as patients cover several kilometres before reaching health centres and sometimes their vehicles get trapped in muds due to absence of good road networks that link them to hospitals in short period of time. The saddest part of it is that after queuing for hours, enduring hunger and thirst primarily to see a doctor, the prescribed drugs are mostly not gotten in the same health clinic where one was diagnosed; staffs usually connive with store keepers to sale them off at cheaper prices. The elected politicians travel out of the country for sickness as minor as headache, they believed that treatments abroad are far better than here while abandoning electorates to die in unequipped hospitals.

Political leaders that suppose to be leading by example through attending hospitals they constructed are busy spending public funds on their treatments abroad; this has angered many health workers to serve away from our shores. World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that Nigeria has one of the largest stocks of Human Resources for Health (HRH) in Africa but, like the other 57 HRH crisis countries it has densities of nurses, midwives and doctors that are still too low to effectively deliver essential health services (1.95 per 1,000). Experts in the health sector that migrate to foreign countries has increased which hugely contributed in making those available not enough for the daily increasing population of patients.

Furthermore, majority of the public health centres lacked modern facilities, rich individuals in societies take their ill wards to private clinics while the mass majority (ordinary citizens) have no option than to take patient relatives to the unequipped public clinics. Sadly, industrial actions (strike) by health workers has turn to like an annual routine, different administrations made several promises such as increment of salaries, reinstatement of illegally sacked staffs, promotion of deserving workers and host of others but all still yet to be fulfilled. However, one might feel like to cry during visit to hamlets, walls of community health centres are old and cracky, the surroundings are bushy and dirty while the staffs go to work as they wish due to lack of strong monitoring and supervisory teams.

In conclusion, to revive the lost glories of health sector in Nigeria, there is need for all public owned hospitals to be provided with necessary facilities, drugs as well as qualified health workers, these would help alot and staffs that are found guilty of discriminating or maltreating patients must be punished. Doctors’ monthly remunerations should be accrued and their retirement benefits be paid on time without delay not until they die; workers in health sectors suppose to enjoy the fruits of their labours first before others. Leaders at all levels must reduce the health workforce centred in cities to rural areas; it would definitely minimise fatality rates and at the same time boost healthcare delivery at grassroot levels.

Mukhtar writes from Bauchi and can be reached via garbakobim@gmail.com