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Against the backdrop of Nigeria’s economy, the Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Professor Abiodun Otegbayo, has warned that affordable healthcare for Nigerians may remain a mirage due to the galloping inflation in the country.
Otegbayo, speaking at the sidelines of a press conference he addressed in the boardroom of the hospital to mark the 66th anniversary of the teaching hospital on Monday, suggested ensuring universal health through health insurance, making primary health functional, and controlling the country’s exploding population as the solution.
Otegbayo, who was flanked by the management of the foremost teaching hospital in Nigeria, declared the cost of healthcare will continue to increase, leaving many unable to access or afford healthcare if nothing is done about it.
“We all know that the economy of Nigeria at the moment is not smiling at anybody. It will continue to increase because inflation is just going up. We have to look at the medical industrialization of Nigeria so that we can produce what we need locally. Now, we have been buying medical equipment and drugs with foreign exchange and things like that. In Nigeria, when the price of something goes up, it rarely comes down.
“However, there is a solution. For me, the solution is universal healthcare. In any system where people pay out-of-pocket, healthcare becomes unaffordable at a certain level. I have seen people, as a practitioner, die because they don’t have money. It is not at the point of care that we need to ask people to bring money.
“In the United Kingdom, they don’t have something like the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) system. But the government pays. And the government deducts it as a tax. But what amazed me is that, even for foreigners who are not paying tax, if you have an emergency, they treat you free of charge.
“So, universal healthcare through health insurance is the way out. Either we do it that way by deducting it from our salaries like they are doing or by using the taxation system that they use in the United Kingdom. That is the way out.
“Two, we must get our primary health care fixed. If we don’t fix our primary healthcare, there is no way we will fix our system. Of course, number three is that we have to reduce our population. The population of Nigeria is exploding. And it is being said that by 2030, our population will be like that of the United States, which is over 400 million. This is not something that should be allowed to happen.
“When General Ibarahim Babangida was the military president, there was this rule of four children per family, which, even to me, is still high.”
Otegbayo, who listed his achievements in office, mentioned some of the challenges confronting the teaching hospital, which include an incessant power cut, the cost of diesel, a water shortage, and a staff shortage.
He said the hospital has one 1000 KVA generator that can power the whole of the hospital but always consumes 300 litres of diesel every hour, and as such, the hospital cannot afford to run it.
“We have close to 70 generators, such as 250 kVA in some places and 150 kVA in other places. Those ones consume less, and we are maintaining them. If we are to treat patients and charge them what we deserve, no average Nigerian will be able to come to the hospital.
“The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) is charging us (UCH) as if we are an industry, which we are not. We are rendering social services. We pay about N57 million to IBEDC. In fact, there was a month when the bill was N71 million. We spend about N18 million to N20 million on diesel monthly.”
