In this interview with EZREL TABIOWO, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso, sheds light on government’s health policies among other issues. Excerpts:
How has the Senate Committee on Health intervened following the recent allegations against NACA, that the agency diverted funds made available to it by international donors for the purchase of Anti-Retroviral drugs?
The way Senate is believed to operate is not playing to the gallery. It is already in the news that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has commenced investigation into the matter, and in fact, has picked up some of the agency’s officials, so a probe into the allegation is ongoing. As a distinguished Senate, we would not go about re-inventing the wheel by looking into the matter; instead we await the findings of EFCC. It is only when the report of the EFCC comes out that we would summon them to know what actually went down. If we make so much noise by summoning them now, you should understand that the Senate wouldn’t be responsible for prosecuting them or carrying out in-depth investigation. At any rate, if we had started a probe of the matter before the EFCC, we would have submitted our report to the commission still. But at this point, I don’t think it makes sense to probe a matter already under investigation by the EFCC, because doing so is unnecessary and amounts to making mere noise.
It is on record that since 1983, the country hasn’t really picked up on primary health. Some argue that for a country to have an efficient healthcare system, attention must be duly accorded primary health. Why is Nigeria yet to get it right, and why does the 2016 budget fail to adequately address this? Going further, what is the senate doing in this regard?
I agree with your assessment of the primary health sector, which I must say is correct. I’m sure Nigerians are aware of the repetitive promise of the present government of introducing about 10,000 health centres over the next two years; not just health centres, but functional ones for that matter, because they have identified the importance of having these health centres. So, let’s pray that these functional health centres would be introduced over the next two years. Then we would know that the first port of call for any patient would be available; that is one for every ward. That means there would be no one that would say there is no health centre that is not within ten minute from where they live. That is what primary health is about. And of course, funding for it to make sure personnel is available. It means therefore that government needs to do a lot of recruitment and training, so as to ensure that the health centres are staffed. Also, the funds for basic equipment and drugs needed for primary location must be appropriated and made available. Others such as basic infrastructure such as water, power must be functional for the health centres to thrive. So, it is already proposed, the budget for it is supposed to come as a supplementary budget, but I understand the funding will come from another source, which is already available, but we await the supplementary budget, anyway. Provision for that is not in this budget that was passed.
There was a motion on the floor which emphasized the need for the establishment of trauma centres. One would have thought that a bill to that effect would have been introduced for consideration and possible passage by the Senate. What is your position on that?
You can’t just introduce a bill seeking to establish in isolation, trauma centres alone, there are so many other medical conditions in dire need of intervention such as burns. For instance, if a worker in the oil industry suffers burns, there is no burn centre in this country to cater for such need.
There are other medical procedures, an example being dialysis, that are not affordable by low income earners and those at the lower wrung of the ladder in society. What effort is government making to subsidize costs associated with these kinds of expensive medical procedures, particularly through establishment of medical centres specifically for the purpose?
I think renal problems are just one of the many health problems faced by Nigerians. We’ll, it is just unfortunate that renal problems is one of many problem our people cannot afford. Let’s not forget that there is also cancer, which as you know is quite expensive to treat. Cancer is also another ailment whose treatment cannot be afforded by poor Nigerians. Let’s not even go into the serious one, as we speak, malaria is what kills most of our people today. So, if malaria still kills more people today than renal problem, what are we talking about.
We just need a general functional medical facility to cater for basic medical needs. A lot of people are dying from common illnesses. What we need are health facilities to address basic health needs. We need to start from the bottom up, which is why the present government’s decision to provide health centres across the country remains a good plan. Talking about addressing difficult health conditions when you’ve not being able to address small ones like malaria does not add up at all. Let us start with addressing malaria first, the we move to the next, nutrition and so on. You’ll observe that malnutrition in children is responsible for stunted growth among them these days. During the first two years of a child, if that child doesn’t get proper nutrition, the organs of the body will not grow well.
As such, you’ll find in another thirty years, the kind of children of the time wouldn’t be as sharp as those we have now. Given the way things are now, a child of thirty five in the nearest future would not be able to compete with his or her peer in Ghana for instance. That is as a result of poor nutrition, and these are supposed to be future leaders. That is why Bill Gates, through his foundation setup what is now called One Thousand Days. The essence is to focus on the first one thousand day nutrition of mother and child. It means a woman that is pregnant must have proper nutrition for the growth of the fetus. Then the next 365 days after the birth of the baby, must be followed with proper nutrition. He has seen the problem posed by lack of nutrition in Africa, meanwhile we are here talking about Dialysis centres. It is indeed ironical that Bill Gates is thinking for us, instead of Africans thinking for themselves.
In your view, how can government get the issue of Health Care right? What areas should government invest in?
First of all, government must get the issue of personnel right because the health sector is one of the major sectors that relies more on personnel to operate.
Without a nurse, without a doctor, if you have all the MRI scans, who would operate them? The capital budget we talk about, is it not to buy equipment? So after you have all the equipment, which you spend billions on, what happens if doctors and nurses go on strike? Your equipment will be looking at you. So, why don’t you first of all pay them, let them be happy with you. In the oil sector you can have computerized drilling; you do not need someone to drill the oil. If workers don’t want to work, robot can drill. But in healthcare, robots cannot put a drip into a patient, robots cannot take blood pressure. Health workers need to be paid so that they can be psychologically balanced to treat people. If they have problems of rent payment, or can’t pay the school fees of their wards, how can they deliver on quality healthcare to patients? So, that is why you don’t joke with the salaries and allowances of health workers. Government must try to separate them from other workers.
What is your take on the incessant strike by Resident Doctors across the country, and how has the Senate intervened?
The Senate has severally engaged the union, and we’ve been intervening by going back and forth in talks with the minister and members of the executive.
Though we’ve been trying to resolve the issues of unpaid allowances and so on, the main problem is not just starting now; it was when the budget was presented and when it was being reviewed with the executive that we realised that the personnel cost was not enough. So, at that point the executive said they would come back to the National Assembly with a supplementary budget. Also, the budget is just about to take off, and though we knew this was going to arise, it started quite early even before the budget took-off. In light of the promise made by the executive that they would come with a supplementary budget, we are waiting for them to fulfill their promise so as to enable us accommodate all these deficits.
