Blame States For Poor Quality Of Teaching Hospitals – Minister

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has said states are to be blamed for the poor quality of teaching hospitals in the country.

Adewole said this while briefing the chambers on the current state of facilities and healthcare services in Nigerian teaching hospitals on Tuesday.

Recall that the red chambers had summoned Adewole to explain the poor services rendered by public health institutions after hearing the motions moved by Senator David Umaru (Niger East), titled ‘Alarming report on the poor quality of services in Nigerian Teaching Hospitals.’

Highlighting the setbacks in the healthcare sector, the minister said “The states have literally abandoned healthcare such that everything is handled by the federal government. We cannot succeed with this.

“What we have through your support and I must commend you for approving the healthcare basic fund, it is a game changer. We have spent almost a year developing the guideline and over the last weeks, we have started a roll-out and as at the last count, 22 states have registered for the basic healthcare provision fund.

“What we have done with the fund is to structure it in a way that money will flow from central bank to the primary healthcare facilities bypassing all obstacles. Last week, we succeeded in moving out funds from central bank to the agencies and from the agencies, it will go to the primary healthcare.

“As of today, 14 states are yet to show interest in the basic health care provision fund and because senators represent the entire country, I want to quickly seek your permission to list the 14 states that are yet to register – Kebbi, Jigawa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Gombe, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Ondo, Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Ogun and Sokoto.

“It is unfortunate because this is a game changer. There will be free ante-natal care, free delivery, take care of malaria, screen for tuberculosis, hypertension and diabetes.”

He further disclosed that Nigeria currently has 22 teaching hospitals, 20 federal medical centres and 17 specialist hospitals.