Specialized Report - Nigeria’s Failing Healthcare System (MCM 212)

 

Nigeria’s Failing Healthcare System

Uyo Farida Kadiri

201307009

200 Level

Mass Communication

 

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) recorded a loss of over 9000 medical doctors in Nigeria between the years 2016 and 2018. The doctors absconded to the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States of America. The President of NMA, Professor Innocent Ujah, during the Maiden NMA Annual Lecture Series in Abuja stated that the loss has left Nigeria with only 4.7% of its medical practitioners to serve the healthcare needs of the population. 

Brain drain exacerbates the depleted resources in our healthcare system and widens the gap in health inequities between underdeveloped and developed countries worldwide.

Healthcare workers tend to move from these underdeveloped nations to richer nations in order to cater to their own best interests and to be compensated for their high levels of training. Although, this is understandable, this leaves Nigeria with the scarcity of health workers where and when the need is greatest. Nigeria has a doctor-to-population ratio of about 1: 6000, which falls far short of the WHO recommended doctor-to-population ratio of 1:600. 

Nigeria’s healthcare system is severely underdeveloped and is currently fighting with serious setbacks on all levels of government. There are no efficient and functional surveillance systems and no proper tracking systems to monitor the possible outbreak of many contagious illnesses, chemical poisoning, and bioterrorism. Health facilities and their personnel suffer from scarcity of adequate medical equipment, especially in rural areas. Various efforts have been put forth by the Nigerian government to address the wide ranging problems in our healthcare system yet none of those efforts have fully been applied.

There is lack of coordination in our hospitals and among medical practitioners, scarcity of resources such as medicines and medical supplies. There is also inadequate and deteriorating infrastructure, limited access to care, a low quality of medical care overall, and inequity in the distribution of resources. Moreover, there is a lack of clarity of roles and responsibilities among medical practitioners, stakeholders in the healthcare sector, and all the levels of government.

In 2001, African heads of state signed a declaration titled ‘Abuja Declaration’. It was to allocate at least 15% of their national budgets to health care. Since then, less than 10% of annual budgets have been assigned to the health sector. Nigeria was also responsible for 20% of all maternal mortality globally, yet has less than 25,000 hospitals. This goes to show that the healthcare system is severely underfunded and overlooked.

Healthcare workers are severely underpaid. Over 1,000 Nigerian doctors immigrated to the United Kingdom between 2018 and 2019 seeking better pay for their skills — an issue that also contributes to the low ratio of working doctors to Nigeria’s population.

According to the WHO’s latest data from 2017, 77% of the money spent on healthcare in Nigeria is out-of-pocket. Most Nigerian’s don’t even have health insurance and have very little means to get one. Unfortunately, the poorer Nigerians have extremely limited access to quality health care. Only 52 Health Management Organisations (HMOs) were listed on the National Health Insurance Scheme’s (NHIS) website in 2018, showing a scarcity of health insurance options and coverage for Nigerians

 

Most data collected on Nigeria’s healthcare system are done by global organizations like UNICEF, WHO, and other international nonprofits. There are many disparities in data published by the government and no known central or holistic database in the country. Because of this, misdiagnosis is prevalent and patient data gets lost.

Due to this abysmal state that the healthcare system is in, Nigerians are left with no choice but to engage in medical tourism. The term, ‘medical tourism’ refers to the phenomenon whereby people travel abroad in order to seek medical treatments for their respective ailments. Nigerian’s are said to spend over one billion US dollars annually on medical tourism, according to a Price Waterhouse Cooper’s report in 2016. In this sense, Nigerians have a complete distrust of the medical sector, and for good reason. This causes them to spend heinous amounts of money to get the right treatments.

Even public officials, the same people responsible for the failing healthcare system in Nigeria, opt to leave the country for better treatment. When those with the power to make necessary changes choose to be subject to their own error, how can we expect change?

Well, here are a few recommendations:

Good governance and leadership is paramount in fixing the damages in our healthcare system today. Olorunnimbe Mamora, the Minister of State for Health, says the government is currently in the works to set up a health reform committee, headed by President Mohammadu Buhari. This committee is geared towards reversing brain drain and dealing with scarcity of medical resources and overall organization of the medical sector.

However, former Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole argues that corruption fuels medical tourism in this country. He challenges public officials to seek medical care in the country in order to be further inspired to make the necessary changes. He also advises medical personnel to protect the information of patients to avoid the discouragement of public officials from getting their treatments within the country. This is a very necessary step in revamping the healthcare sector of Nigeria.

A good system for routine surveillance and medical intelligence are also necessary for the proper implementation of policies in the healthcare system. Therefore, the government needs to invest more time, money and effort in making this come into fruition.

Medical practitioners should be paid an additional 50% of their salary plus an extra 20% for frontline workers. Low pay is the leading cause of brain drain among health care workers in the country.

 

The Journal of Public Health in its January 2020 publication says Policy makers and political actors need to stop the high dependence on out-of-pocket spending as a means of funding the Nigerian healthcare system by increasing the budget for the Health Sector.

Denis Waitley once said: “Time and health are two precious assets that we don't recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.”  Nigeria is not yet hopeless. There is still time for the reformation of our healthcare system. If Nigeria doesn’t take caution in sustaining what is left of this system, we can only expect the worst things in our future. That is it for my report.

 

 

Here is the audio:

 Specialized Report - Nigeria's Failing Healthcare System (Audio)