Why the health bill should be signed – experts

It is the second time the bill has reached the presidency since 2011 when it first was presented before the presidency but was pulled amidst controversy among health workers concerning some of its stipulations.Health groups have raised concerns that the remaining few weeks left before 2015 elections are a crucial make-or-break period for the bill […]

It is the second time the bill has reached the presidency since 2011 when it first was presented before the presidency but was pulled amidst controversy among health workers concerning some of its stipulations.
Health groups have raised concerns that the remaining few weeks left before 2015 elections are a crucial make-or-break period for the bill and failure to secure presidential assent could stall the bill and rubbish efforts to get it this far when poll campaigns heat up.
Meanwhile, Executive Secretary, Health Reform Foundation, Muhammed Lecky, speaking to Daily Trust at the weekend said that the passage of the bill would be a plus to President Jonathan’s re-election bid.
Lecky said: “It is a huge electoral advantage for the president once this thing is signed. And, I also think there is a legacy issue for Mr. President because it will go down in history for Mr. President to sign this bill into law. It is a legacy matter for him. It is going to be the most enduring legacy for him.
There is not going to be a piece of bill that will come out of National Assembly that will be better, now and for the future than this bill, because it is about health. “It is like what happened in America; the Obama Care; the Affordable Care Act in America. People don’t know it as Affordable Care; they know it as Obama Care.
“By coincidence it is also back on his desk, about three months before another round of national elections for which he proposes to stand as the candidate of the ruling party,” warned health groups State of the Union (SOTU) and Accountability for Maternal and Child Health in Nigeria (AMHiN).
The NHB has stalled in parliament for years while interest groups bickered over its contents, especially sections that provide for positions and role of authorities, resulting to several revisions and amendments.
The harmonised version sent before the presidency last October is seen as “Nigeria’s greatest attempt thus far, at speedily revamping her weak healthcare system,” said the health groups in a statement in Abuja.
That is “why we urge President Jonathan to heed the clarion call of Nigerians by promptly assenting to the bill within the few days left for him to do so,” said Okeke Anya of SOTU.
AMHiN project coordinator Chioma KANU said in the same statement: “By so doing, he would also making a legacy of a model healthcare delivery legislation for other countries in West Africa to follow, particularly those still plagued by [Ebola virus disease].”
After eight deaths among 20 infections, Nigeria in October successfully contained the virus, which is still running wild through African and western countries world over.
Thousands have been infected and thousands killed, according to the World Health Organisation, despite the use of experimental drugs and the promise of clinical trials of experimental vaccines.
SOTU and AMHiN said a vital lesson from the Ebola experience was “the need to urgently develop a framework that effectively addresses the many challenges afflicting the healthcare sector.”
“This is an important step for both public and private sectors, if we are to ensure that we never experience the huge scare which the presence of EVD wrought on the psyche of Nigerians, old, young, rich, poor, literate and illiterate, alike,” it added.
The bill for the first time establishes a national health system, with clear responsibilities for all tiers of government and stakeholders. It also spells out health care as a right for Nigerians, basic minimum health packages covered under a national health insurance scheme and exemptions that warrant free health care and emergency treatment.
It also provides for better health funding through federal government consolidated revenue, partner and counterpart funds and contributions from states and council areas as well as minimum standards that classified health instituions must meet in providing health care for Nigerians.