NMA advocates establishment of Tertiary Health Trust Fund
By Muhammad Auwal
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has urged the Federal Government to set up Tertiary Health Trust Fund to improve healthcare funding in the country.
Dr Ododo Bernard, NMA Committee Chairman on Radiation and Radio-diagnosis, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lokoja on the sideline of the 2019 International Day of Radiology.
Bernard, who explained that the trust fund would be similar to TETFUND, urged government to consider Public Private Partnership (PPP)that would be built on transparency in the health sector.
He also urged government to consider channeling recovered looted funds into the health sector to improve its operations.
He reiterated that every public secondary and tertiary health facility should be adequately equipped with modern facilities for effective service delivery.
Bernard, a Consultant Radiologist at Federal Medical Centre (FMCL) Lokoja, urged federal and state governments to make effort to improve medical facilities in public health institutions across the country.
According to him, availability of modern facilities such as ultrasound scanner, x-ray machines, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and modern radiotherapy facilities, would ensure quick and efficient diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
“Delay or inaccurate diagnosis invariably leads to inappropriate treatment which could result to further worsening of our health indices,” he said.
He called on stakeholders, especially at the state and federal levels, to put in more effort to end brain drain among trained health specialists.
“Doctors and, in particular, radiologists, are moving out of the country in drones to work abroad where modern facilities and tools are readily available with better remuneration for service,” he said.
Newsmen reports that the International Day of Radiology is marked every Nov. 8 and it is coordinated in Nigeria by Association of Radiologists in Nigeria (ARIN), an umbrella body of all radiologists in the country and an affiliate of NMA.
