The Chairman of Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association, Benjamin Oluwatosin, has lamented the setback in the development of the health sector in the country.
Benjamin, in a statement to mark Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Anniversary, said the health sector is nothing to write home about.
He said despite the increasing population, the health sector has continued to regress, adding that yearly budgetary allocation to the sector is below the standard.
He said, “From 1960 to date, Nigeria has been an epicentre of many events: the good, bad, and ugly. Her health sector was not spared in these series of melodrama displayed across the length and breadth of the green-white-green Republic.
“It is shocking to note that as the population spikes, the health facilities across the nation shrink. Many hospitals have sadly become memorabilia of their glory days. Like the biblical depiction of ignoble regression, these hospitals are nothing but Ichabod. The yearly budgetary allocation for the health sector perfectly expresses how forsaken our health sector has become. Needless to say, we are always below the United Nations safe threshold for budgetary health allocation.
He condemned Nigerian leaders who neglect the citizens and travel abroad for medical care.
