…tasks Nigeria’s next President on universal health coverage
By Gabriel Ewepu

AS more Nigerians get their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Medical Director/Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Cedarcrest Hospitals Limited, Dr Felix Ogedegbe, called on Nigerians to vote candidates whose priority are on resuscitating and transforming the nation’s healthcare system.

Ogedegbe in an interview with Vanguard on the sidelines of a forum with theme ‘Emigration and the Japa Phenomenon’ organized by Strategic Assembly for Leadership Thrust Initiative, SALT, Initiative, in Abuja.

He said the ‘Japa’ syndrome is becoming more worrisome as it has escalated beyond expectation which the government at all levels need to urgently tackle by making various sectors more conducive and attractive to prevent those who want to leave and convince those who have ‘japa’ to return home.

He said: “Let us listen to what people are saying, let us listen to what the candidates are saying at every level and let us look at voting for president and governors who are willing to look after their people because I can tell you, the money to look at our people is here, it is the choice of what to spend it for that is the matter; because there are other priorities apart from healthcare.

“So we should look at people whose priorities are healthcare and let us put them in power. That is what democracy is about.”

Meanwhile, he further expressed the need for Nigeria to focus on universal health coverage as one of the panaceas to reduce the number of people traveling abroad for treatment.

He also added that it is very imperative to invest heavily in medical tourism and boosting medical expertise in the country.

“As regards medical tourism, again you have mentioned about the healthcare system, it is system where you have 200 million people, the system will provide for treating 200 million people.

“How many people have their treatment being provided for? A very small number, so the government has to take the leadership in providing treatment for the number of people that are in Nigeria.

“That is one of the basic requirements of government and many other places that you go to in this world, people have means of treatment. So let us get it right, it doesn’t mean that they don’t go to government hospitals but the government has set it up saying that some will go to government, some will go to private and this can be done through the National Health Insurance Act has been passed, it has to be operationalized. The goal should be universal health coverage. We have talked about a lot of this things but it has not been done.

“If people have universal health coverage in Nigeria, they will no longer go abroad for treatment, and one of the things that actually makes people go abroad is anywhere most people are being treated, the people that are treating them actually get more proficient, they get better in the work that they do.

“So if you are not treating many people here, your skills will not be good. So government still have a role to play to make sure that there is universal health coverage for Nigerians through the National Health Insurance Act that has been passed so that we can have more health care here and more specialized healthcare there will be no need going abroad”, he said.

He further stated that, “And then if you have robust healthcare services, you can attract doctors back, and the same way that the National Healthcare Services in the UK is attracting our doctors. That is just how it works.”