Lawan: We must tackle challenges facing the health sector

Senate president Ahmed Lawan has said that it was “very necessary” for Nigeria to pay special attention to the health sector to minimise health challenges confronting the nation.

Lawan spoke at the National Executive Council meeting of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), on Thursday in Abuja.

He was represented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Dr Ibrahim Oloriegbe, at the meeting that had the theme: “Implementation of the National Health Act: The Bedrock for improving the Nigerian Heal Sector”.

“The call has become important because of the numerous health challenges facing the world at the moment. So many diseases and so many viruses, known and unknown, are ravaging the people.

“Nigerian doctors must work hard so as to become great example for their colleagues the world over,” he said.

He commended NARD for being consistent in holding its NEC meeting whose major focus is usually the improvement of the health sector.

Lawan assured the health practitioners of the required collaboration toward the immediate implementation of the Health Act, urging them to hold tight to the professional ethics in the discharge of their duties.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osaghie Ehanire, in a remark, called on health practitioners to mobilise health workers to take up the challenges in the health sector, especially the primary health scheme.

Ehanire called on the health workers to join government in tackling the challenges, saying that the effort to improve the health sector must be collective.

“The efforts should not be left alone to the Ministry of Health and the government,” he said.

On the outbreak of lassa fever in the country and coronavirus in some other countries, he said that there had been an improvement in managing lassa fever in the country.

Dr Osahon Enabulele, President, Commonwealth Medical Association, in his keynote address, said that the implementation of the NHA would lead to substantial Improvement in the health sector and also guarantee the health rights of Nigerians.

Enabulele added that the implementation would also help to improve the financing of the health care and the achievement of universal health coverage. It will regulate and standardise the quality of health infrastructure and service. Health human resources is still a major issue and now we have the issue of violence.

“We still have other challenges like lack of political commitment, poor funding, poor budgetary allocation and poor regulations,” he lamented.

In his remarks, Dr Aliyu Sokomba, the President of NARD, noted that the health practitioners had recently been faced with challenges, especially the implementation of the national health act in view of poor health facilities.

“We hope that this meeting will be impactful and herald the implementation of the national health act,” he said.

Dr Roland Aigbovo, President, Association of Resident Doctors(ARD), FCT chapter, said that the ARD target was to achieve the universal health coverage and to push for the immediate implementation of the national health act.

He said that the implementation of the national health act would set standard for the delivery of universal health coverage.