The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has decried the high rate of foreign medical trips by Nigerians.
He, therefore, called for a total overhaul of the health sector to allow efficiency.
Dogara stated this while speaking at a public hearing organised by
the House Committee on Health on two bills at the National Assembly in
Abuja, on Wednesday.
The two bills under consideration were a Bill for an Act to Repeal
the Health Records Officers (Registration, etc) Act, CAP. H2 of the Laws
of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and Re-Enact the Health Information
Practitioners Council of Nigeria for effective and efficient Health
Information Management, to Regulate the Training, Practice and
Management of Health Information System in Nigeria; and a Bill for an
Act to Amend the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria Act, CAP
1.112, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, to Provide for the Role
of the Chemist, the Regulation of Practicing Fees by Members of the
Institute; and for Other Related Matters.
“The ultimate aim of these legislations is to ensure that we have a
more efficient service delivery in the health sector. There is a
compelling need for us to overhaul our health sector in view of the
continuous public outcry against our defective health care delivery.
“The high number of Nigerians who go on foreign medical trips and the
brain drain that we witness among our professionals in the sector, are
indications that our health sector requires a serious surgical
operation,” Dogara said.
