The immediate past President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, has condemned the state of hospitals and other medical infrastructure in the country.

While assessing the health sector in the last 54 years on Tuesday, Enabulele blamed the three tiers of government for underfunding the sector and politicians for their poor contribution to the development of health care facilities over the years.

The views of the ex-NMA President and delegate to the just-concluded National Conference were contained in a statement entitled ‘My assessment of Nigeria’s health sector at 54’ and issued in commemoration of Nigeria’s 54th independence anniversary.

According to him, the Federal Government has failed in its promise to restore what he described as the ‘poor and decadent’ state of health infrastructure and equipment to its former glory.

He stated, “The Federal Government’s promise in 2013 to institute a Health and Hospital Development Intervention Fund, as well as establish six regional world-class hospitals, has remained a mere rhetoric.

“At 54, Nigeria’s health care system is still being undermined by the poor political commitment to health and the health care needs of Nigerians, by the country’s top political and public office holders.

“The health sector is also still blighted by poor budgeting for health at federal, state and local government levels. This has not been helped by the absence of constitutionally justifiable health rights for Nigerians and the frequent recourse to foreign medical care by Nigeria’s top political and public office holders. Now Nigeria loses $800m each year in capital flight to other countries because of medical tourism.”

Enabulele frowned at Nigeria’s failure to enact the National Health Act, saying that this had made it impossible for her citizens to benefit from national health insurance coverage.

He said that Nigeria still had less than seven per cent health insurance coverage, while less endowed countries like Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana had achieved more than 30 per cent health insurance coverage.

Enabulele further decried the level of investment in medical research over the years, noting that the trend was responsible for the poor health indices recorded in the country every year.

He said, “At 54, Nigeria is yet to witness massive investments in health research. The Ebola pandemic and the glaring absence of proactive research efforts by African countries, including Nigeria to develop a preventive vaccine or a drug cure for Ebola Virus Disease since its first outbreak in 1976, is a clear testimony of the poor priority for health research.

“The reactionary state of most African economies is also manifested in the health sector with a persistent habit of waiting on the developed countries of the world to develop solutions for largely African problems and diseases.

“After 54 years of independence, Nigeria still has a largely chaotic drug procurement and distribution system. There is reckless and indiscriminate advertisement of unproven and uncertified herbal and medicinal products on the electronic and print media.”

According to him, the country still contends with most of the basic problems identified during the pre-colonial and immediate post-colonial periods, despite noticeable improvements in some pre-independence health indices, particularly with respect to health infrastructure, availability of health human resource and training institutions for medical doctors/dentists and allied health professionals.

He said that while the challenges confronting Nigeria’s health sector at 54 may seem daunting, he remained optimistic that the health sector could still be positively repositioned if positive measures were implemented for the public good.