States, LGs Not Supporting FG On Health Sector- Adewole
A former Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said states and local governments are not doing enough to improve the country’s health sector.
Adewole said the non-challant attitude of the two tiers of governments were the factor responsible for the poor health system in the grassroots.
He stated this during a lecture he delivered at the first Emeritus Professor Oladapo Akinkugbe Distinguished Lecture held at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Ondo State.
The lecture was titled, ‘ Strengthening the health system in Nigeria through research and innovation.’
He said, “Nigeria is bequeathed with a lot of potentials from her large population size to her diversities as well the unique material and non-material resources. What is lacking is our optimal ability to plan and design a strategic framework to harness and utilise these God-given potentials in all facets of life including the health sector for our national development.
“Since we began the current democratic dispensation, I argued that Nigeria has witnessed some improvement in the health sector, largely championed by the Federal Government with very little effort by the states and no appreciable activity at the local government level – the closest arm of government to our people. No wonder, while some of our health indices are still ‘crawling’ to improve. The current government is investing in primary health care to demonstrate to other tiers of government that a functioning primary healthcare service can bring an enduring health system for a nation.”
He charged the management of the UNIMED and other tertiary institutions in the country to respond to their environmental research needs.
