A consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, NOH, Igbobi, Lagos, Seyi Idowu, has advocated a mandatory health insurance scheme for Nigerians.
“If you are earning minimum wage of N18, 000, N500 every month should go into your insurance and the more you earn, the more you pay for your health insurance. I think acting on that to make that compulsory is a key thing,” Idowu said in an interview with TELL.
Idowu further declared that funding the healthcare sector is a big issue in Nigeria adding that there are limitations in the health system as infrastructural development is way behind. According to him, “There are limitations in the health system; this is what you expect from a country where infrastructural development is still way behind what is expected. So it is the same for the health care service.
“There are lots of problems in the health care sector but I do not think human resources is a big problem because to a large extent, we have been able to surmount the human resources problem,” Idowu said adding that it is difficult to generalize that the hospitals do not have up to date equipment. “Some hospitals have gone into Public Private Partnership, PPP, towards procuring up to date equipment that patients have to pay a little extra for, and the equipment are available in those hospitals.
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