Minister orders free treatment of poor patients at LUTH

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole on Friday ordered free treatments of indigent patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Lagos. Adewole who was a working visit to hospital stated that until the system put in place an insurance scheme or some form of social health scheme, everyone cannot be taken care […]

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole on Friday ordered free treatments of indigent patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Lagos.

Adewole who was a working visit to hospital stated that until the system put in place an insurance scheme or some form of social health scheme, everyone cannot be taken care of but, only the poor can enjoy such free treatment.

He said "We can also not deny poor nigerians quality treatment  because they have no money. Those who are poor should enjoy our services. we are pleading to Nigerians to be genuine and truthful because we cannot takecare of everybody for now. the free treatment is for the poor alone."

The Minister however attributed underperformance in the health sector to inadequate funding said about 60 to 70 percent of Nigerians are poor which this implies that about 100m out of the 180m of the Nigerian population are poor.

He said the ministry intends to takecare of these people and reach them by providing basic care.

Adewole said, "When we came on board, the first thing we do was to look at what is wrong with the health system, why is the health system under performing, what are the challenges of the health system, what can be done. the first thing we recognise that the sector is suffering from under funding. when you look at the 2013 data released by the world bank, Nigeria has the least contribution to healthcare sector in africa. We are even behind south suden in terms of the percentage of the GDP that we are devoting to the health sector."

The Minister who promised to reposition the health sector also directed  LUTH management to decongest  Accident and Emergency, (A&E) unit to free space for more patients.

He said, "We believe that the accident and emegency unit is the face of the hospital and no one will give you credit if you fail to attend to patients on time and what I saw this morning was congestion. when the A and E unit is congested, that facility cannot assorb new cases. When emegency happened, facilities must be able to respond adequately and promptly."

Adewole informed that Nigeria needs about 140 radiotherapy machines to address rising cancer cases in the country.

He said only two out of the available seven in the country are functional which are being overstretching for the treatments of 2million cancer patients.

The Minister who urged Nigerians to improve on their lifestyle said 40per cent of cancer cases can be prevented while 40percent are also curable if detected early.

He said late detection of cancer is death even when patients travel abroad for help adding that this why awareness is key to prevent the scourge.