Reps Decry Bad State Of Primary Healthcare, Urge FG To Declare State Of Emergency. By Saheed Badmus

Nigerian House of Representatives has decried the Bad State Of Primary Healthcare Centres across the country,
urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the health sector in order to give it a large amount of funding in the budget forecasts for 2024.

This followed the House’s resolution on Thursday after a lawmaker representing Lagos State’s Mushin Federal Constituency II, Fayinka Oluwatoyin (APC-Lagos) moved the motion at the plenary.

According to him, “Need for the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency to collaborate with relevant health agencies in states and Local Governments to ensure the functionality of Primary Healthcare Centres,” was the motion’s title.

Oluwatoyin in his remarks said despite having the continent’s largest population, Nigeria suffers from disturbingly high rates of deteriorated healthcare services.

According to him, Nigeria would have roughly 39,983 hospitals and clinics by the year 2020, with primary healthcare facilities making up about 34,000 of those or 86 per cent.

However, he claimed that only 20% of these primary healthcare institutions are actually operational, especially in remote areas with inadequate facilities and staff.

He said that the number of fatalities in hospitals has increased due to a lack of beds, electrical systems, qualified staff, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and road networks.

This, according to him, necessitated revitalisation with a budget of US$80 million for additional bed spaces.

He said the Federal and State Health Ministries’ inaccurate representation of primary healthcare centres hindered proper budgeting and access to quality healthcare in rural areas.

This, according to him, often leads to premature deaths.

The House, in its resolution, urged the Federal Ministry of Health to encourage States to resuscitate the comatose primary healthcare programmes at the grassroots level.

It urged the ministry to also provide qualitative and affordable Medicare for the masses.

The House further urged the Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with State ministries, LGAs and other stakeholders to establish a task force to eradicate sharp medical malpractice.

This, he said, should particularly be in the rural areas and furnish the Committee on Healthcare Services with the summary reports in evaluating the standard of the primary Healthcare Centres from 2016-2022.