APHPN: Tinubu’s Policies Put Public Health At Risk
The National President of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN), Alphonsus Isara, has identified the increasingly high cost of drugs and cost of care under the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, as a threat to public health.
He stated this on Tuesday during the 40th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference and Golden Jubilee Celebration of the association, in Akure, the Ondo state capital, with the theme ‘Repositioning Public Health in a New Political Dispensation’.
According to him, the high cost of drugs gives room to the proliferation of counterfeit drugs in Nigeria and poses a major challenge to public health, while most genuine drugs are expensive.
He noted that the present administration in the country had ushered in an avalanche of public health issues threatening the health care delivery system in the country.
Isara listed the various challenges including the depleted human resources arising from the massive brain drain syndrome and the high cost of medical products and drugs.
“The current socio-economic challenge is an impediment to accessing healthcare for many citizens. Medical products including drugs remain out of reach for majority of citizens as a result of policies and sundry conditions that have prevented manufacturing companies from operating effectively in Nigeria.
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“The obvious challenges facing healthcare delivery in Nigeria include but are not limited to the following: a very weak healthcare system, depleted human resources arising from massive brain drain, especially in recent times, poor infrastructure, health insecurity (healthcare in danger), uncoordinated approach to healthcare, lack of political will on the part of the government.
“Healthcare, especially public health is in danger in the present dispensation. However, APHPN will continue to push for a better healthcare system in Nigeria through advocacy, dedicated service delivery, stakeholder engagements, and capacity building of its members.”
He said all these challenges must be urgently addressed, assuring that members of APHPN would brainstorm at the ongoing conference and present papers to proffer solutions to the current challenges in the health care delivery in the country.
Isara expressed the association’s willingness l to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Health and health agencies in the country to initiate programmes that will improve the health sectors of the country.
“One of the ways to achieve this is to reposition public health services for a better, effective and efficient healthcare delivery. Repositioning public health in this political dispensation is an uphill task, but one that must be done.”
He noted that the Nigerian health care system is constantly being confronted by outbreaks of several infectious diseases, such as Lassa fever, Yellow fever, Cholera, and Cerebrospinal meningitis, among others.
He, however, said the association would advocate for the domestication of the infection prevention protocols at both the community and facility levels.
