Healthcare in Nigeria

With a population of over 200 million people, Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and the seventh in the world. With this kind of population, Nigeria would be considered a land of opportunities, including for consumption of services and products and availability of human capital. Many investors would thus give it a top consideration. That is coupled with the reputation that Nigerians are known for wanting finer things in life and living in the fast lane, especially out of their own country.

According to Jayesh Saini, there is no doubt there is great potential in the country, especially in the healthcare industry where he has vested interests in healthcare service delivery. The industry, he points out is not as developed as would be expected of such a vast land and human capital. It is unbelievable with all resources the country is endowed with, their still have not managed to meet the 15% of the national budget for healthcare and the total health facilities for the above population is less than 30,000.

Over 70% of the payments for health services is done out of pocket, because majority do not have health insurance covers and there are no free services available, exposing them to extreme poverty against the very principle of UHC. There remains a great need for maternal healthcare, modern diagnostic services, tertiary care that includes more facilities offering services for diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases such as cancers, heart diseases and lifestyle diseases. There is a need for the introduction of effective health insurance at both public and private level. For example, the National Health Insurance Scheme should be revamped and be more inclusive to ensure coverage of the most venerable people.

Interestingly, the majority of the people seeking medical attention do not seek it from primary healthcare facilities but go to the secondary and tertiary facilities further increasing the expenditure on what would have been much cheaper in lower levels of service points. This peculiar trend is attributed to poor services, lack of equipment, unmaintained buildings and lack of doctors in the primary care facilities.

When asked, people say it is better and more practical to seek medical attention where one is guaranteed to receive the care that they need instead of going to the primary facilities only to be referred for most of the services especially when they perceive the condition to be serious. This is also true of the individuals or families that have medical covers: they self prescribe higher level facilities because they can afford it and it is also more convenient for their economic status.

One-stop diagnostic centers are well received by the people and those who access them are willing to pay just to ensure they get the required services conveniently.

The country is encouraging greater participation of the private sector in building a better healthcare system which has also been faced with brain drain where doctors and nurses have left the already under-staffed country for greener pastures especially in Europe and America.