For an effective national health law

Proponents of the law had sought to remove 2% from the Federation’s Consolidated Funds to finance the sector, causing the initial delay when it was first tabled in the National Assembly. Another issue which stalled the passage of the Bill was the absence of consensus over the contribution of 25% to the scheme to be […]

Proponents of the law had sought to remove 2% from the Federation’s Consolidated Funds to finance the sector, causing the initial delay when it was first tabled in the National Assembly. Another issue which stalled the passage of the Bill was the absence of consensus over the contribution of 25% to the scheme to be made by the states and local governments. The resulting disagreements persuaded President Goodluck Jonathan to decline assent and the Bill was returned to the National Assembly last year.
The legislation envisages a budget of 60 billion naira for primary health care annually, in addition to providing free medical care for those considered most vulnerable segments of the population. It also establishes minimum guarantees of basic health care services for certain groups such as children below the age of five, pregnant women, adults above the age of 65 and people with disabilities. It extends primary health care coverage to 60% of Nigerians living in rural communities.  
The legislation is a positive development and will be a tremendous boost to the effort to provide comprehensive health coverage for Nigerians at minimal cost when it eventually becomes law.
 Effective implementation of the law will also address the many shortcomings in the health sector and curtail abuses.    
To start with, it is imperative to provide communities nationwide with functional health care centres as well as qualified personnel.  Apart from building new ones, existing health facilities need to be overhauled and properly equipped. For the project to work as the legislation envisages, local governments must devote more attention to the health care needs of people at the grassroots. The aspect of the legislation that recommends the establishment of village health committees will be a platform for community participation and ownership of the health centres. Such committees should have representation from the various wards and be tasked with the responsibility of enlightening rural dwellers about the need to promptly seek medical attention in case of any health challenge and how to access the nearest health facility. Rural dwellers also require enlightenment on proper sanitation to prevent outbreaks of some of the prevalent ailments in such environments. Recently, it was widely reported that hospitals had run out of the supply of vaccines for the immunization of children against child killer diseases.  Such scandalous situations should be a thing of the past under the new legislation.  Part of the objective of the health law should, therefore, be to drastically reduce maternal mortality and child morbidity. Another area of concern that the legislation should address is how persons who are not in any gainful employment Nigerians, and are not beneficiaries under the existing rules of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) would be covered in the new policy since a substantial sum of 50% of the fund is to be set aside for the scheme. This is why it is important to implement the new policy in a manner that will benefit the generality of Nigerians, including the unemployed.  
The president should have no problems signing this important legislation for it to become law.