Chitika

Thursday 18 December 2014

Ohaegbulam recommends compulsory health insurance for Nigerians

RENOWNED neurosurgeon and former deputy vice chancellor of the University of Nigeria Enugu – Campus, UNEC, Prof. Sam Ohaegbulam, has said that the introduction of compulsory Health Insurance for all Nigerians would guarantee every Nigerian free access to medicare anywhere in the country.

While stressing that this initiative would give a big boost to the nation’s healthcare delivery, Prof. Ohaegbulam, who is the Chairman of Memfys International Hospital for Neurosurgery in Enugu State, suggested that Nigerians should be made to pay graded levy for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to which employers of labour and the government could supplement.

Presenting the 2014 Award Winners’ Lecture of the Nigerian National Merit Award at the 7th Annual Forum of the Laureates of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), at Merit House, Maitama, Abuja recently, the lecturer explained that for low-income earners, the premium should be capped at affordable pre-determined amount, while high-income earners should pay premium based on percentage of salary.

In the lecture, which topic was “Free Healthcare in Nigeria, a Vision or Delusion,” the erudite scholar, however, noted that the Federal Government should pay a predetermined cash to supplementthe income from premium paid by enrollees.

The neurosurgeon observed that if it was true that Nigerians spend over N450b monthly on recharge cards plus other periodic contributions in communities and churches, then it was possible to mobilise Nigerians to pay for their health insurance without coercion, pointing out that the benefits of a comprehensive health insurance scheme were enormous.

He noted that the NHIS would transform our hospitals as more revenue would become available to purchase and maintain equipment,train and hire top level workforce, promote and fund research, stimulate rapid expansion of health facilities, provide employment and discourage the rush for overseas medical treatment.

According to him “If health insurance is made compulsory, the volume of patient will dramatically increase. Let us consider a health insurance plan of just N6, 000 per person per year (N500 monthly) and if they succeed in enrolling 150million citizens, this will yield N900 billion, and by making the subscription a percentage of income, the funds that would accrue to NHIS would be huge.”

Prof. Ohaegbulam, 2010 winner of Africa’s Distinguished Neurosurgeon Award, stated that hospitals and medical practitioners were unhappy with the current fees prescribed for services by NHIS, even as they argued that the fees were too low to cover the cost of treatment, against the backdrop of inflation in the country.

He continued: “Presumably, the fees must have been based on high turnover, which has not been achieved, it is only when the health insurance is made compulsory that high volumes can be generated, thereby making it possible to achieve a fair financial return for those providing the services.

“After 42 years of planning, and 10 years of practice of NHIS, we have only been able to achieve 4 per cent penetration. This calls for soul searching,” he noted.

While calling for the privatisation of the health sector to improve efficiency as is the case with the railways, and the power sector, Ajaokuta Steel Project, the former deputy vice chancellor of University of Nigeria observed that in Nigeria, the private sector has been more efficient, as an unbiased appraisal of the government owned health facilities, educational institutions and industrial outfits confirm this.

He said for privately-owned health institutions to continue complementing government’s effort in healthcare delivery in the country, federal and state governments must provide a conducive industrial climate for them to thrive, just as he expressed shock that private hospitals were made to pay custom duty on imported medical equipment and consumables, while public hospitals were exempted from such payments.

The neurosurgeon added that the Association of General Medical Practitioners, the Guild of Medical Directors and even the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), had expressed concern over the unhealthy developments.

“My experience at Memfys Hospital for Neurosurgery, Enugu, illustrates the above complaints vividly. Here is a hospital that came on board in 2002 to provide neurosurgical, CT scan, MRI and EEG services in a region where none existed and has discharged these services at the highest level without interruptions for many years despite several challenges arising from multiple taxation from different government bodies, poor electricity and inadequate infrastructure.

Furthermore, the neurosurgeon said that the same hospital had undertaken postgraduate education for neurosurgeons and other health personnel, thereby assisting the government to improve on the shameful statistics in the sector, even as some federal university and teaching hospitals send their students and trainees to the institutions for training, since the goals of Memfys Hospital were high quality patient care, education/training and research.

With more than 100 Nigerian and expatriate staff and modern library with internet access to other on-line resources, the 14-bed hospital and three-bed modern ICU, with the full compliment of operational facilities, the radiology unit is the pride of the hospital.

A single slice CT scanner, and installed a second digital CT in 2005, to become the first hospital to have two functional CTs, while a mobile Cere Tom 8-slice CT was brought in 2009, and in 2014, a 64-slice CT scanner and MRI services were added as the first in the Eastern part of Nigeria to upgrade the neuroradiology services to a higher level, was moving from strength to strength.

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Monday 15 December 2014

THE JOHESU STRIKE

Health professionals fiddle far too much with the health of the nation.

After several days of strike that claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent Nigerians, health workers across the country, under the auspices of Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), at the weekend agreed to return to work.

As part of the deal that led to the truce, a committee has been constituted to draw up modalities for the payment of consultancy and specialist allowance for healthcare professionals as well as review some other demands made bythe health workers before they went on strike.

Coming only a few weeks after medical doctors under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) ended their three-month strike, the JOHESU action was both ill-timed and unfortunate.

However, now that common sense seems to have prevailed, we hope that both the union and the federal government would come to a binding agreement so we can put an end to incessant recourse to strikes that take heavy toll on human lives.

It is a fact that healthcare delivery is critical to the well-being of any society. Yet if health workers in Nigeria understand this, they have not demonstrated it given the manner in which they go on strike at the slightest excuse.

More unfortunate still is the fact that the latest strike by JOHESU was driven essentially by their rivalry with medical doctors. The crux of the matter: non-promotion of its members from salary CONHESS 14-15 as directors having stayed for between four and15 years on the same salary level without promotion in most federal tertiary hospitals; immediate release of circular on adjustment of salary since January 2014 and payment of arrears.

JOHESU was also demanding the immediate release of the circular on extension of retirement age to be back-dated to February 2014 when the issue was presented to the federal government as well as full payment of all manner of arrears that have also to be backdated.

There are other demands by JOHESU most of which border on their competition with medical doctors.

Instructively, none of the items on the JOHESU list calls for upgrading of the decayed and dilapidated health infrastructure across hospitalsin the country.

Neither is there a mention of the need to improve healthcare delivery inNigeria. It is all about the welfare of JOHESU members and their rivalry with medical doctors. That, however, is no surprise because most of the times, the reasons why workers go on strike in our country are purely personal.

We believe that as much as JOHESU has the right to demand for improved welfare packages for its members, it is also incumbent on health practitioners to consider the plight of patients across the hospitals before they embark on their usual muscle-flexing.

There should be other mechanisms for addressing grievances without turning our hospitals to death chambers. If the interest of Nigerians is topmost in JOHESU agenda, the best way to demonstrate it is not through incessant strikes. But the union alone should not take the blame.

There is a school of thought that government, at practicallyall levels in Nigeria, usually pay little or no attention to workers in critical sectors like education and health because most of the officials do not patronise local institutions.

However, since at the root of the problem is the seeming insistence by JOHESU that its members be accorded the same privileges as NMA members, the federal government should apply global best practices on the issue. It is not in the interest ofour country that the NMA and JOHESU would be alternating strikes which often lead to the death of ordinary Nigerians who patronise public health facilities.

However, now that there is some sort of truce, we hope that all the parties will work to restore sanity to the sector.

Source: http://nursesarena.com/news/editorial-the-johesu-strike/new/#new

Thursday 11 December 2014

2015 Scholarship for Nurses

Introduction

Commonwealth Shared Scholarships are offered by the CSC in partnership with UK universities.

These scholarships are intended for students from developing countries who would not otherwise be able to afford to undertake Master’s level study in the UK, to gain skills and knowledge which will allow them to contribute to the development of their home countries.

Levels and subjects of study

Shared Scholarships are for taught Masters’ courses only; awards will not be made for undergraduate or PhD study, and will not cover any pre-sessional English language teaching.

Candidates can apply to study subjects related to the development of their home country at participating UK universities only.

Terms and conditions and eligibility*.

To apply for a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship, candidates must:

*.Be Commonwealth citizens, refugees, or British protected persons

*.Be permanently resident in a developing Commonwealth country (Nigeria and other African countries inclusive)

*.Be available to commence their academic studies in the UK by the start of the UK academic year in September/October 2015

*.Hold, by October 2015, a first degree of AT LEAST upper second class Honours standard

*.Not have undertaken studies lasting one year or more in a developed country

*.Be unable themselves, or through their families, to pay to study in the UK

How to apply

All applications must be made through your host UK university. You must check with them in the first instance for specific advice on how to make an application and for their own closing date.

All Commonwealth Shared Scholarship candidates must be selected and put forward to the CSC by their host UK university, and must submit their application to the CSC using our Electronic Application System (EAS).

Candidates must apply for a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship using one of two methods, as instructed by the university:

1.Via university: Applying to the university in the first instance using the university’s own application form. If selected, candidates will then be asked to submit an application to the CSC using the EAS. Any applications made via the EAS only and not directly to the university first will not be considered.

2.EAS only: Applying to both the university and the CSC at the same time using the EAS.

Each university has its own closing date for applications. Any applications received after this date will be deemed ineligible.

The table on pages 5-6 of the Commonwealth Shared Scholarships 2015 prospectusindicates the method of application and closing date for each university.

Candidates may apply to more than one university, but only one offer of a Shared Scholarship may be accepted.Full help on how to apply using the EAS is provided in our guides, which should be read in full before making any attempt to use the EAS.

The EAS will close to applicants on16 April 2015and no further applications can be submitted after that date.

Candidates should note that most university closing dates fall before 16 April and you must submit your application by the date advised by the university to which you are applying.

All enquiries about Commonwealth Shared Scholarships should be directed to the university to which you wish to apply. Download the prospectus here http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/prospectus-shared-scholarships-2015.pdf

NB: Courses available includes; Masters in Clinical Nursing in Kings College London,Masters in Advanced Nursing from University of Nottingham,Masters in Nursing from De Montfort University and Public Health from various universities listed on the prospectus.

If you have any question about this scholarship,you can either drop it here and fellow nurses who have benefited from this scholarship will answer it or mail the individual schools listed in the prospectus.
Visit nursesarena.com for more.news and scholarship opportunities for nurses.