Unwholesome Practice: FG To Push For New Legislation To Regulate Healthcare Sector

The Federal Government has mulled plans to push for new legislation to regulate the healthcare sector in the country.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this on Friday during a courtesy call on the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, in Abeokuta.

Alausa decried the unwholesome practice where untrained individuals are allowed to operate in the health sector.

According to him, 60 percent of the nation’s healthcare is controlled by the private sector.

Alausa pointed out that inadequate supervision of hospitals, laboratories, and diagnostic centres in the country, creates room for illegal practices such as organ harvesting.

To this end, he said the Federal Government would be setting up a Health Facility Regulatory Commission to regulate standard of health care across the country.

The minister: “We will be pushing for a new regulation to regulate the healthcare sector as more than 60 percent of the nation’s healthcare is in the hands of the private sector without adequate supervision.

“You see hospitals, laboratories, and diagnostic centres being run without anybody checking on what they are doing and these are some of the places where illegal practices like organ harvesting are taking place.

“What we are going to do at the federal level, is to set up a Health Facility Regulatory Commission that will start regulating the standard of health care across the country and we expect the states to set up their own regulatory bodies as well.”

Alausa also disclosed that the Federal Government is in the process of starting a programme that would increase the production of healthcare providers, starting with the admission of 10,000 medical students every year, while admission for nurses would increase from 28,000 to 68,000, annually.

On the Sectoral Approach Programme launched by President Bola Tinubu, the minister explained that one percent of the consolidated fund was for Basic Health Provision, 55 percent for Primary Healthcare Centres, and 45 percent for National Health Insurance, while five percent goes into Emergency Services.

Responding, Abiodun assured Alausa that his administration would not hesitate to replicate any Federal Government action aimed at eliminating quackery in the health sector.

“Let me assure you that in terms of the regulation that would allow for tighter regulatory functions over medical practitioners to prevent quackery, we will not hesitate to replicate at the state level.

“We are one of the two states that have put in place a board for alternative medicine because we realized that a lot of our people, especially pregnant women are patronizing traditional birth attendance. We regulate and certify them to ensure we have some form of oversight in their activities,” the governor stated.