Continuous Education Committee of Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti (FETHI), has posited that unless well-meaning Nigerians are ready to sacrifice for the less privileged, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for everyone everywhere may remain a mirage.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Adekunle Ajayi, whose presence was audibly established through the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Dr Idowu Adebara, at a seminar tagged “Universal Health Coverage: Everywhere, Everyone” to mark the 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) day on Wednesday, stressed the commitment of the management toward raising endowment for indigent patients who visit the hospital daily and cannot be denied access to quality health care service delivery.
In his opening remarks, the CMD thanked the organisers and participants for the topic and turnout respectively, and appealed to members of staff who may still be interested in joining the “Alaanu Fund” to kindly see the people in charge, saying UHC is the availability of health care everyone needs, at the time and place he needs it and at an affordable price.
Dr Kayode Adewoye, who was the lead speaker, described UHC as an important means of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well being for all at all ages. He lamented that lack of resources, over dependence on direct payment at the time people need care and inefficient and inequitable use of resources often prevent countries from moving closer to UHC.
He therefore urged government at all levels to pay more attention by creating more awareness about NHIS to members of the public and how they can benefit from being registered.
He recommended that community members should be involved in the planning, implementation and management of the Community Based Social Health Insurance Programme (CBSHIP), and budgetary provision for health should be increased.
Dissecting the topic further, Dr Ekundayo corroborated the assertions earlier made by the first speaker and added that UHC aims to enforce health as a human right and also ensures equity in access to quality care by spreading the risk on everyone.
He advocated multiple financing sources and overhauling of the entire NHIS to improve efficiency and effectiveness of health care services. He opined that Nigeria must get health care financing, legislation and governance right to achieve UHC 2030.
Dr Awoyinka, the Chairman of the Education Committee, lauded the recent “Alaanu Fund” initiative of the management and also appreciated some ABUAD students who recently contributed one hundred thousand for an indigent patient in the hospital.
Some members of Top Management Committee of the hospital along members of staff across units and departments also attended the programme.