Chitika

Wednesday 31 August 2011

NIGERIA NATIONAL HEALTH BILL OF WAHALA.


    I woke up on the 18th of May, this year to learn that there was an ongoing protest at the nation National Assembly by market women over the delay in the passage of the National Health Bill. In a country where the average life expectancy is estimated to be around 48 years, maternal mortality rate of  about 52,000 i.e a woman dies every 10minutes due to pregnancy and child related cause and annual no of under-5 death of 794 per 1,000. I felt happy that women in the country could take such a bold step to fast track the passage of such law that will have impact on the health of their fellow citizens. Curiously, the Senate  horridly passed the bill which has been in its custody since 2008 in less than 24 hours of protest.
   No sooner had the bill was passed by the house than hell was let loose- the Assembly of  Health care Professionals associations and unions  comprising of Nurses, Laboratory scientists  among others staged a peaceful protest against the bill urging President Jonathan  to withhold his assent to the bill. They claimed the bill gave undue power and preferences to the medical doctors. To them, the bill usurp the power of various professional regulatory agencies and accused the ministry of health of working in connivance with the medical doctors to change some important provisions included in the draft bill in favour of doctors.
   According to the bill, the Nigerian National Health Council will be the all-in all as stated in section 1 subsection 1 which states;
There is hereby established for the federation the National Health System which shall DEFINE and PROVIDE a framework for standards and regulation of health services which shall-
a.       Encompass public and private providers of health services.
b.      Promote a spirit of co-operation and shared responsibility among all providers of health services in the federation and any part thereof
c.       Provide for person living in Nigeria the best possible health services within the limits of available resources.
d.      Set out the RIGHTS and DUTIES of health care providers, HEALTH WORKERS and health establishment and users and
e.      Protect, promote and fulfill the rights of the people of Nigeria to have access to healthcare.
By this section, the ALPHA and OMEGA of healthcare delivery in the country is NHS which will coordinate the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, MDCN, and other professional regulatory agencies. The composition of the NHS according to subsection 2 of section 1 are
a.       The federal ministry of health.
b.      The state ministries of health in every state and the federal capital territory.
c.       Parastatals under the federal and state ministries of health.
d.      All local government health authorities.
e.      The ward health committees.
f.        The village health committees.
g.       The private healthcare providers and
h.      Traditional and alternative healthcare providers.
  It was argued considerably that all the offices above are occupied by medical doctors in form of Minister for health, commissioner for health, among others . As expected, the NMA which is the political mouthpiece of medical doctors  criticized the protest, calling on President Jonathan to sign the bill without recourse to the issues raised by other professionals. The State minister of health Dr Muhamad Ali Pate has vowed to ensure that the president signs this into law as soon as possible.
    With all these arguments and counter arguments on the health bill, It seems the stage is now set for a major scuffle between medical doctors on one hand and the other health professionals in the health team as they have threatened to embark on  nationwide industrial action should the president append his signature to the bill. It is quite unfortunate that the bill that was supposed to bring succor to the citizens is polarizing the health sector and if not resolved urgently will in no doubt worsen the  health situation in the country as when two elephants fight, the grass suffers.

By Idowu Olabode [RN]
Nigeria.
E-mail: born2lead01@yahoo.com