Prioritize Healthcare Mr President-elect

Globally healthcare has been facing a plethora of challenges in recent years. This has been largely as a result of rapid growth in patient turn out with a disproportionate growth in staff strength. This has led to increased pressures on healthcare systems which remain unaddressed to date. In an attempt to cope with these challenges, different healthcare systems of different countries adopt various strategies aimed at improving patient satisfaction and reducing expenditure. 

It has become a tradition, for committees and sub-committees to be set up annually in a bid to identify gaps, proffer meaningful solutions and draft recommendations for healthcare reforms. These reports however, in most cases fail to reach implementation stage in most cases. 

However, in some developed countries, the healthcare systems have developed significantly and have made landmark achievements and could thus serve as models for developing healthcare systems that seek to restructure their healthcare systems. 

Nigeria's healthcare system has very recently been commended for its swift and effective containment of what would have been an Ebola outbreak and also eradication of the polio virus. However, much still needs to be done in areas of malaria, cancer and maternal and infant mortality to mention but a few. The crisis rocking the healthcare sector which has resulted in incessant strike actions mostly at the detriment of the patient, needs to be addressed holistically. The burning issues that are yet to be addressed by successive governments need to be studied sincerely and sustainable agreements must be made with affected parties. This is important in ensuring stability in the sector which will serve as a basis for meaningful restructuring to be embarked upon. 

It will be important for the incoming government to also review policies affecting healthcare service delivery in the country with a view to updating these policies to meet up with global best practices. In the UK, the Francis report was one of such documents that identified critical areas of healthcare practice and passed on to the government as a guide for reforms in the NHS. 

There is the need for more research to be undertaken in the health sector in Nigeria. 

Medical research is known to be expensive and dependent on accuracy and availability of data. The government would therefore need to provide sufficient funding to encourage intending researchers and the required facilities for research especially accross our teaching hospitals. 

Healthcare remains a critical sector of the economy and improvements recorded in this sector directly impact on the lives of Nigerians. This is why healthcare should be affordable and accessible. Access to healthcare should be a right of the citizenry and not be made to seem like a privilege. Implementing policies that will ensure that healthcare is not only affordable and accessible, but also effective and efficient will significantly curb the embarrassment of medical tourism. This is achievable if government prioritises healthcare.