The Nigerian Senate yesterday adopted a motion seeking additional funding for Primary Health Care centres across the country.
In a motion sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu representing Lagos Central Senatorial district and 108 others, she said that primary health care in Nigeria, which was adopted in 1998 by National Health Policy as means of providing health services to rural dwellers, has collapsed.
Relying on the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicator, the lawmaker said Nigeria’s health care facilities have low performance in the world.
She added a corroborative index by the World Bank that the primary health in Nigeria was underfunded, noting that the situation has brought about infrastructural deficit.
Tinubu expressed concern over the condition of the primary health care centres, adding that people at the grassroots need to have access to health care.
Senator Chimaroke Nnamani representing Enugu East Senatorial District attributed the woes in the nation’s health sector to neglect by the government.
“Some of Nigeria’s health centres are orphans and nobody is laying claim to its ownership,” he said, pointing out that primary health care was supposed to be used as “nexus for integrated health services”.
Senator Rochas Okorocha, representing Imo West Senatorial District, called for free primary health care services as people at the grassroots could not afford to pay for services rendered to them. He said, “Primary health care is meant for people at the rural areas who cannot afford medical attention.
“Government should make primary health services free, because the constitution provides for government to protect lives and properties”, he said.