Renowned Pharmacist, and governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2015 election in Lagos State, Mr. Olujimi Agbaje, has blamed the difficulty in containing the outbreak of Lassa fever on poor health system among other issues affecting smooth access to quality health care.
Agbaje argued that the issue of Lassa fever wouldn’t have degenerated to the extent of claiming lives and turning many mothers to widows and children to orphans if efforts are channeled in the right direction.
Speaking at the Servier Leadership Programme held in Lagos, as Nigeria continued to battle the recent outbreak of Lassa fever in the country, Agbaje pointed out that until the country addresses the issue of healthcare funding, the situation will remain the same.
He regretted that the first point of contact in healthcare delivery which is the General Practitioner, GP, has long been neglected.
According to him, it is also sad that the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, which is supposed to link the patients with their GPs, has failed to do so.
“When people register with one GP, it is the job of that GP to reach out to all those that are registered with him or her and make information regarding any infection or disease available to them.
“All health information will be going through GP, it means that government will only produce information leaflets and give to the GPs,” the pharmacist noted.
“Healthcare system is something that is very capital intensive and the reality is that it must be available for everybody and that is why some of us are in support of NHIS because you don’t need to pay from your pockets before you will access healthcare.
“Lack of structural healthcare system has continued to fuel the leadership crisis in the sector.
“When we properly implement NHIS, the issue of who should be the leader will become a thing of the past, because professionals will only be paid for the job he or she is entitled to do, it will discourage such professional from doing what are not his or her own specialties,” Agbaje added.
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