Elect leaders with emergency plans for health sector, NMA charges Nigerians

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has advised Nigerians to elect leaders with a national emergency plan for the health sector.

Dr Benjamin Olowojebutu, Chairman, NMA Lagos Zone, said this at a news conference to kick off the 2022 Physicians’ Week on Monday in Lagos.

The theme of this year’s celebration is: “Nigeria’s Healthcare Delivery System and the 2023 Democratic Transition: A Time to Change the Narrative.”

Olowojebutu noted that the desired leaders should have a national outlook with clear policies and matrix to improve healthcare access, budget and doctor’s and citizen’s welfare.

Dr Olowojebutu

He stressed that the right leader would be strategic in viewing the current brain drain as a national emergency issue that must be quickly addressed to restore the glory of the health sector.

Olowojebutu said that doing this would build a nation where healthcare works for all irrespective of tribe, creed, religious and political affiliation.

“Strong leadership is associated with better healthcare service delivery, improved health indices and invariably better productivity and GDP,” he said.

He added that improved investment in primary healthcare should be intensified to ensure prompt access to health services, better health outcomes and a reduction in morbidity and mortality rate among citizens.

Olowojebutu said that the current executives of NMA Lagos was working on a three-pronged focal agenda which includes ‘The Lagos Doctor, Lagosians and Lagos Healthcare System,’ to ensure a health system that works for everyone.

Also speaking, Dr Uche Ojinmah, President of NMA, said Nigeria has the third highest number of foreign doctors working in the UK after India and Pakistan.

Ojinmah said that the country was losing its human resources in large numbers amid the huge burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases affecting its citizens.

Ojinmah represented by Olowojebutu appealed to the governments to quickly declare emergency action in the health sector for the sake of her citizens.