Federal Gov’t Kicks Over Reps’ Move To Establish 16 New Health Institutions

The Minister of Health, Professor Mohammed Ali Pate has warned against the duplication of health institutions across the country in the face of scarce resources.

Professor Pate gave the warning at the public hearing on 16 bills aimed at establishing one health institution or the other, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions on Thursday.

The minister said health sector research including that of the cardiology was already taking place in Nigeria at various levels, stressing that establishing another institute will be an additional financial burden on government which was already cutting down cost by pruning down agencies.

Represented by a Director in the Ministry, Dr Jimoh Salahudeen, the minister appreciated the House’s efforts towards deepening healthcare services through training and research in the country.

He, however, said cardiovascular research was not in alert level than any other non-communicable diseases to warrant a compelling need for the establishment of National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Research and Treatment Centre in Kano.

Pate said, “All the Federal Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres in Nigeria including those in North-West geopolitical zones already have the mandate of treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases, Research and Training of Healthcare professional including medical doctors who are specialists in the management of cardiovascular diseases and other related cases.”

He listed federal teaching hospitals in North-West geopolitical zones to include Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital, Kano State; Anmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Kaduna State; Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto and Federal Teaching Hospital, Katsina State; Federal Medical Center (FMC) Azare, Bauchi State; FMC Birnin Kebbi in Kebbi State; FMC Birnin Kudu, Jigawa State and FMC, Gusau in Zamfara State.

“These aforementioned existing Federal ‘Tertiary Hospitals’ (FTHs) Cardiovascular Units have not been overstretched nor reportedly underserving the people in the geopolitical zone. In addition, other state tertiary hospitals in this zone complement the effort of the FTHs in responding to some of the specialised cardiovascular cases in this region.

“Furthermore, there is Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos, an agency under the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, that has been coordinating medical research in the country as it is obtainable in other parts of the world including the USA, UK, Canada, Ghana, Senegal etc.”

The minister stressed that colleges of health technology are established to ensure the training of middle level health professionals in various fields of health practices.

He cited examples of such to include nursing, radiography, dental therapy and technology, medical laboratory science, pharmacy, amongst others.

Pate noted that the migration of health workers and the epidemics and their emerging trend underscore the need for Nigeria to have enough and efficient health workforce that will be readily available when there are any health emergencies.

However, he noted that this should be based on merit, considering geographical spread, burden of disease in the proposed location, population density as well as support from the host community and other stakeholders.

He then advocated strengthening existing cardiovascular units in federal tertiary hospitals by ensuring adequate medical manpower especially during this period of massive brain drain in the country.

Speaking earlier, chairman of the committee, Hon. Amos Gwamna Magaji said the migration of health workers from Nigeria to other countries in search for greener pastures posed a significant challenge to the nation’s healthcare system.

Magaji said the core of the hearing was to provide guidance on the Federal Government’s commitment to improve the healthcare sector through wide distribution of healthcare institutions in Nigeria.

He noted that the growing population posed the need for reference hospitals to be closer to the people, particularly in rural and suburban areas which are critical for ensuring success of government initiatives to improve healthcare.

Magaji said in order to develop and expand the country’s training institutions and ensure equitable distribution of health manpower, the Federal Government must balance the inequality in the distribution of tertiary institutions across the country.