….Decries 6% budgetary allocation to health

By Adesina Wahab

Former President of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, SOGON, Prof. Oluwarotimi Akinola, has said poor Universal Health Coverage, UHC, in the country is aggravating poverty, as only about 10 percent of the population has access to UHC.

According to him, a country with poor UHC would be poor, as unhealthy citizens would be unable to contribute meaningfully to the economic growth of the country.

This is just as he decried the allocation of less than 6 percent of the national budget to the health sector.
He stated this on Wednesday while delivering keynote paper at the 21st Annual Scientific Conference and Gathering of the Faculty of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, the University of Lagos, UNILAG.

The theme of the conference was “Advancing Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria: Progress, Challenges and Future Directions.”

“Nigeria has less than 10 percent of UHC, Ghana has about 40 percent, China has about 95 percent. What that means is that out-of-pocket care for health is 70 percent in Nigeria and therefore people cannot access quality and affordable health care services. The situation leads to avoidable and preventable deaths.

“The challenges facing the health sector in the country include inadequate financing; high out-of-pocket to finance health issues, human resource crisis; inequity in access, dependence on donor agencies among others. When President Trump stopped USAID, lots of grants dried up. South Africa dedicates about 15 percent of its budget to health and we have to patronise them for some things,” he stated.

The former SOGON boss called for treating health as a priority, investing in preventive care, improve health workers’ welfare among others to revive the sector.

The Vice Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Development Services, Prof. Afolabi Leshi, noted that the choice of the topic and speakers reflected the desire to have diverse perspective and lauded the efforts.

The Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Olufemi Fasanmade, described the conference as a milestone in the history of the faculty.

He opined that Nigeria must expand UHC for the benefit of the citizens and the nation at large.

Speaking on the sideline of the conference, a member of the organising committee, Dr Israel Akinmokun, stressed the importance of Artificial intelligence to quality healthcare delivery and allayed the fear that AI would take over people’s jobs.