A former lawmaker, who represented, Ogun Central Senatorial District, at the National Assembly, Senator Lanre Tejuoso has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to adopt every possible means to make the Primary Health Care System more functional and effective.
This according to Senator Tejuoso will decongest the tertiary institutions and enable Nigerians especially those at the grassroots and vulnerable persons have access to qualitative and affordable health care delivery.
Senator Tejuoso spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital, during a health talk organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Zone B.
With the theme of the programme:”The Nigeria Health Care System: Challenges Before the New Goverment, the Senator noted that Nigeria already had many health laws and enough health infrastructure but over the years, successive governments, have bot been able to put the laws and the facilities into proper use.
According to him, politicians build health facilities on daily basis as part of measures to give back to the society but some of which he said have become moribund due to inability to run them effectively.
He said:”The tertiary Institutions are more or less carrying out the roles of primary health care instead of them facing critical health issues, just because the primary health system are defective.
“It is inappropriate for an expectant mother to travel long distance just for antenatal, many simple health cases that we take to the tertiary institutions are supposed to be handled at the primary health facilities.
“If government gives the primary health facilities better attention, people at the grassroots will have access to better health care.
Aside the improvement in health care, Senator Tejuoso believed that a better attention for the primary health care system will also create jobs and address the issue of brain drain which is affecting the health sector.
Senator Tejuoso suggested the need for goverment to give out some of the facilities to medical experts on contract bases while efforts should be on to take advantage of Information Communication Technology to boost the health sector.
Earlier, the Vice President, Zone B, Comrade Ronke Samo commended the Senator and urged government to adopt the various suggestions put forward by the guest speaker to make the nation’s health system better.