Hon. Amos Magaji, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions, has encouraged Nigerians to always seek medical advice from specialists before using medications to treat diseases.
Magaji made the appeal while meeting with journalists on the margins of the Committee’s oversight visit to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH).
He stated that there has been a rise in the number of cases of renal and liver disorders in the country, with the cause being the people’s indiscriminate ingestion of unrecommended medications.
He said, “Many Nigerians are used to taking different types of drugs including “Agbo” (local herbs) and other drugs not prescribed by medical experts without thinking of their effects.
“This is why cases of renal and liver diseases are becoming rampant among our people.
“Nigerians should desist from taking unprescribed drugs, they should seek medical advice from experts before they take drugs, when they are sick,” he said.
The lawmaker also cautioned against taking drugs that are very cheap which are bought from roadside health vendors, adding that they should take prescriptions from experts and renowned pharmacies in the country.
He observed that though people are complaining of high cost of drugs in the country, but it was better to take expensive drugs than to take cheap drugs that could send one to an early grave.
The health committee chairman also advised Nigerians to always do periodic health checks to know their health status, saying that they should not wait until the time that they are sick before conducting health checks.
He also urged them to do the checks either in hospital or at approved laboratories.
Magaji said: “People should develop the culture of periodic health checks. They should not wait until the time they are sick before going to the hospital.
“They should go to the Radiology Department to know the condition of their body system. This will also assist doctors to know their health status when they get to the hospital.”
According to Magaji, health for all is possible if certain things are done for the nation’s health facilities, and government takes action to improve the performance of the National Health insurance Scheme.
“The government should increase capitation of the National Health Insurance. As at present, the National Health Insurance covers below 20 percent of the people.
“It should be increased to about 80%, because you cannot have health for all if people are still paying from their pocket,” he said.
Magaji said that from the oversight function conducted at UITH, the committee discovered that the capital component given to the hospital in the 2022/2023 budget was too low.
He noted that the hospital’s budget for capital projects was below N1 billion as against the recurrent of N14 billion.
According to him, with this oversight function, the committee’s assessment is that the capital allocation for the hospital is too low.
“If we want to reverse the medical tourism in this country, we have to develop infrastructure and replace key equipment in our hospitals and there should be change of attitude of our medical professionals,” he said.
He said that the committee would work towards increasing capital budgetary allocation to health institutions in the 2025 budget.
In his comments, Prof. Abdullahi Yusuf, the Chief Medical Director of UITH, appreciated the committee for its visit, stating that the committee should ensure that medical tourism was reduced to the minimum.
Yusuf said that the health committee met with the management of the hospital and offered useful advice.
He explained that some challenges facing the hospital included poor power supply, high cost of diesel and shortage of funds.
