A bill seeking to prevent public officers from travelling overseas for medical treatment, as well as to protect, promote and fulfill the rights of Nigerians to access to health care services from the three tiers of government, is awaiting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s assent.
The bill known as the National Health Bill, was transmitted to the President last Thursday for his assent and would become vetoed if the president does not sign after 30 days, concerned health professionals who spoke with BusinessDay, said.
Nigerians, majority of whom are government appointees, top civil servants and other rich individuals, spend on average $500 million (N78 billion) yearly for medical tourism, according to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and Onybuchi Chukwu, former minister of health.
Their preferred destination is India. The bill also seeks to provide a level playing field, which would in turn encourage Nigerian health professionals to remain in Nigeria.
According to Osahon Enabulele, the immediate past president of the NMA, out of 65,000 doctors registered in Nigeria, as at May, 2013 only 25,000 are currently practising in the country.
The bill which is the first of its kind in the history of the country, and a copy of which was seen by BusinessDay, states in Part V (section 46): “Without prejudice to the right of Nigerians to seek medical check-up, investigation or treatment anywhere within and outside Nigeria, no public officer of the government of the federation or any part thereof, shall be sponsored for medical check-up, investigation or treatment abroad at public expense, except in exceptional cases, on the recommendation and referral by the medical board and which recommendation or referral shall be duly approved by the minister or the commissioner of health of the state as the case may be”.
Currently, senior public officers enjoy overseas medical treatment as normal perks of office, and do not go through rigorous approvals as demanded by the new bill, a medical doctor who works with a federal medical facility in Abuja told BusinessDay.
The bill defines the roles of the Federal Ministry of Health, states ministries of health, parastatals in the health ministries, local health authorities, ward health committees, village heads, as well as private health providers.
It also establishes for the first time, the National Health System, “which shall define and provide a framework for standards and regulation for health services, without prejudice to extant professional regulatory laws, and which shall encompass public and private providers of health services.
It also seeks to promote a spirit of cooperation and shared responsibility among all providers of health services in the federation and any part thereof, as well as provide for persons living in Nigeria, the best possible health services within the limits of available resources.
It further sets out the rights and obligations of health care providers, health workers, health establishments and users; and seeks to protect, promote and fulfill the rights of the people of Nigeria to have access to health care services.
The bill which provides for the establishment of a National Council on Health, states that the minister of health, working in consultation with the council would provide for the exemption of certain categories of people from payment of health services, including the needs of vulnerable groups such as women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
It further provides for the establishment of a Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which shall be financed from the federal government’s annual grant of not less than one per cent of its consolidated revenue fund, grants by international donor partners, and funds from any other source.
According to the bill, 50 per cent of the fund shall be used for the provision of basic minimum package of health services to citizens in eligible primary/secondary health care facilities through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
It further stipulates that 20 per cent of the fund shall be used to provide essential drugs, vaccines, and consumables for eligible primary health care facilities; 15 per cent for the provision and maintenance of facilities, laboratory, equipment and transport for eligible primary health care facilities; 10 per cent of the fund shall be used for the development of human resources for primary health care, while 5 per cent of the fund shall be used Emergency Medical Treatment to be administered by a committee appointed by the National Council on Health.
For any state or local government to qualify for grant under the bill, such state or local government shall contribute not less than 25 per cent of the total cost of the project as their commitment in the execution of the projects.
The funds, according to the bill, shall be managed by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
The bill states: “ A health care provider, health worker or health establishment shall not refuse a person emergency medical treatment for any reason whatsoever”.
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It would recalled that many Nigerians have died as a result of refusal by health workers to treat people under emergency, especially people with gunshot wounds.
The bill makes provision for what it called “Essential Drug Lists”, stating that “indigenous and local manufacture and production of as many items in the formulary as practicable shall be encouraged”.
Ben Anyene, a renowned health professional and chairman,Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria, told BusinessDay that the Bill would ensure equity in the allocation of resources in the health services sector by removing undue financial barriers.
Anyene, like other health professionals who spoke with BusinessDay, including the former director-general of the NHIS, Muhammed Lecky, appealed to President Jonathan to sign the bill into law in the spirit of the transformation agenda of his government.
It will be a big plus for the president’s transformation agenda, particularly as it affects the health sector, Anyene said in Abuja.
John Osadolor & Harrison Edeh
