President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said that he is considering an upward review of budgetary allocation to the health sector as a step to improve the quality and access to medical facilities across the country.

The President stated this while receiving the new executive of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) at the presidential villa, Abuja. He said the review of the budgetary allocation will reflect the government’s priority of ensuring that Nigerians get better healthcare, especially in specialized areas.

“We place quality healthcare on our priority list, and we are already marching on with the Primary Health Care services and some state governors have bought into it. We are committed to universal health care,” he said.

The President assured the leaders of the NMA that the White Paper from the Ahmed Yayale-led panel report on Inter-Professional Harmony in the Healthcare Sector was already being considered by the government to ensure more organized and harmonized working relationship among medical practitioners.

Buhari, however, urged the medical practitioners to always consider their profession as “divine call” especially in taking decisions that directly impact on the lives of Nigerians, adding that other means of negotiation for better working conditions should be explored instead of strikes.

“The medical profession is regarded as a divine call because of the strategic role you play in the lives of human beings,” he said.

The President commended the NMA and its members on some of the medical feats being achieved in Nigeria like the separation of conjoined twins, organ transplants, heart surgeries and treatment of cancer patients. Buhari noted that the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council would soon be constituted to further enhance service delivery and regulation of the sector.

In his remarks, the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ohanire, said a newly released basic health care provision would further focus on improving service delivery to Nigerians through the Primary Health Care.

The President of the NMA, Dr. Francis Adedayo, commended Buhari for including members of the NMA in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and signing of the Medical Residency Training Act into law.

Adedayo urged the Federal Government to improve the budgetary allocation to the health sector as required by the Abuja Declaration which sets a benchmark of 15 per cent.

He said the speedy processing of the Ahmed Yayale report on harmony among practitioners in the medical sector will go a long way in enhancing service delivery and better working relationships

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

anibi9674:

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said that he is considering an upward review of budgetary allocation to the health sector as a step to improve the quality and access to medical facilities across the country.

candy:


The president said he is condidering raising the health sector budget!!! Still considering when things have gone down south!

You people can afford to travel abroad to treat ear infections when Nigerians can't afford to treat common malaria in a Nigerian hospital with high the cost of an average anti malaria drug in a pharmacy now. You keep talking about primary health care centers where they don't have doctors and the patients have to buy jik, detergent and gloves before they are attended to. Some general hospitals include stuff like fuel for generator, a 25-ltr keg of water...in their child delivery list in Ibadan and you are considering!

Doctor's work is a divine call indeed!

docadams:


Arm chair critic. You better wake up from your reverie and make yourself useful to your immediate environment. It is surprising how you want to blame the illegal packages you run in your place of work(assuming you are not a lazy youth) on the President.

candy:

Typical.

My husband is a consultant OB/GYN, I can relate.
I am an academic, a researcher. I'm not a lazy youth.
I know my husband has paid for fuel to run the generator of the hospital so many times so they won't operate with a rechargeable lamp, even when he was a resident doctor. Likewise other resident doctors.
I'm not an arm chair critic, I do my criticism on as many platforms as I can; way beyond nairaland sir.

I don't belong to any political party and I know an average politician is a thief. One thing is certain: we need to do away with the idea of selling votes to the highest bidder. They are all out there to make a mockery of the misery of ordinary Nigerians. Let's look beyond what we can gain today and consider tomorrow! It's Buhari today, it will be another polithiefcian tomorrow and if care is not taken, the cycle continues.

docadams:


Do you improve on the system by spending your money to purchase essential items, NO NO and NO.He buys fuel today, buys water tomorrow,, buys antiseptics a day after, pays for refuse clearance same time. How can his hospital be sustained like this in the long run. He is being a poor manager, if he is the head. Tell him he should think beyond the four walls of his clinic. I tell you this from experience in running a govt hospital. Internally generated revenue has inched upwards to the extent we could buy a N5m generator. Aim to conquer your environment, madam