NAN-HG-8
Healthcare
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, May 23, 2017 (NAN) The African Health Project, an NGO, has called on stakeholders in the health sector to make efficient health care services accessible to all Nigerians.
Its President, Dr Ali Onoja, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that access to an efficient health care system would motivate Nigerians to be more productive.
He said it was regrettable that the National Hospital Abuja had been overwhelmed by the huge number of patients trooping to the facility.
Cue in audio (Onoja)
“We want a health system that is accessible.
“We want a health system where services are carried out.
“Remember a few years ago when the late Senator Ted Kennedy was ill, he went to the Massachusetts General Hospital, in the same town where there is Harvard.
“Why, because the health system in the U.S. is such that anywhere you go you can access care.
“But here, everybody needs to go to the National Hospital, everybody needs to go to the Teaching Hospital, because the services are not working at all.
“So we have to go back to the definition of health, what is health?
“If you say health is just curing of diseases and that is what Nigerians want to adopt, then the doctor is right to say he is the one who is in charge.
“When if you say health is not just the absence of diseases but the state of physical, mental and psychological well-being, then everybody is important.’’
Cue out audio
Onoja said when people lack the needed care; the real issues would be compounded, thereby increasing mortality rates.
He urged parents to play their part in teaching their children morals and hygiene promotion practices; saying this would prevent incidences of illness and preventable deaths especially in under-five children.
He also said the provision of basic amenities would promote clinical medicine against curative medicine being practiced in the country in the overall health development of the citizenry. (NAN)
TAK/LAB//YEE
Edited by Lydia Beshel/Emmanuel Yashim
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