Problems inundating healthcare in Nigeria has been identified to include Poor Budgetary Allocation, Inadequate Human Resources and Ineffective Leadership and Management.
The Catholic Bishop of Umuahia Diocese, Most Rev’d Michael Kalu Ukpong disclosed this yesterday on the occasion of the 2nd matriculation ceremony of Madonna College of Health Technology Olokoro, in Umuahia South Council Area of Abia State, noting, “Our Country Nigeria is often called the “Giant of Africa” in recognition and admiration of her enviable human and natural resources. No nation in the whole African region can boast of what Nigeria has in terms of manpower and natural minerals. The lack of proper managerial skills has snowballed into many problems inundating the entire nation especially from the perspective of healthcare”.
He regretted that “inadequate budgetary allocation in Nigeria in terms of healthcare services is a silent but strong testimony of the Government’s insensitivity to the plights of the greater number of the population who wallow in abject poverty.
“Recently, it became a headache of the Federal Government of Nigeria on how to manage or even to pause the mass exodus of medical Practitioners who leave the country in droves in search of greener-pasture. The ripple effect of such large scale migration is that it leaves the country with only very few Workers who overwork themselves almost on daily basis.
“It is very unfortunate to observe that most of our Leaders did not enter into governance with the right intention to provide services to the people. With their jaundiced eyes they see the Common Good as their personal “thing”. This accounts for the relentless cases of looting we hear about in Nigeria. The looting is so severe that the economy is said to be bleeding profusely”.
On the way forward, the Catholic clergy posited, “The truth is that we have to realize that no one will fix this country for us but ourselves. We must adopt an attitudinal change. For a long time, our mindset had wrongly been fixed on making quick money, ripping where one did not sow, avoiding due process, promoting injustice, buying and installing substandard drugs and hospital equipment and so on. Time has come when from the first day of your presence here in this Institution you begin to think of how to rip success through hard work and sacrifice.
On man’s health in the light of God, Bishop Ukpong exposed that the scripture tells that God is ever interested in the health of His human creatures – their good health both spiritually and physically, stating, “in bringing good health to man, God often makes use of the human agents. It is not that the human agent is indispensable before Him but rather, out of His love, he allows man to share in His wisdom and power to heal and admonishes us to obey doctors (and nurses by implication)”
On the role of the churches in the health sector, he noted, “The Church is the mystical Body of Christ who continues the work of Christ who came that mankind may have life and have it in full. Consequently, the history of the Church eloquently testifies how She had been taking care of the bodily and spiritual needs of man.
“This affirms why She has consistently engaged in healing, caring for the sick and establishing centres of charity for the poor and the needy. Through the actions and ministry provided in the Catholic hospitals, for instance, people experience the “touch” of the divine and a sense of the “beyond”.
“In this way, the kingdom of God is alive and real in people’s lives. If nothing more can be said, the fact that people are assisted to transcend their present realities and be called forth into new dimensions of their personhood, then Catholic hospitals and our ministry provide a distinctively valuable contribution to the country’s health system”.
On the neglect of professional ethical standards in the health sector, the Bishop said, “Another crucial dimension of the Church in healthcare delivery is in the promotion of the Code of Ethical Standards. It is not rare to find in the society today many healthcare Practitioners and centres who violate and oppose vehemently the Code of Ethical Standards of their noble profession by intentionally working against the same human life they publicly professed to protect. Such people have no problems with assisting in procuring abortion, encouraging cuthanasia and promoting the use of contraceptives. The Church on the other hand had been promoting and defending life from its conception to its natural death”.
Earlier, the Provost of the Catholic College, Rev.Fr. Christian Anokwuru in his address, charged the 186 new intakes to pay premium attention to character formation assuring that the institution would remain focused in the pursuit of excellence and ethical service.
According to him, the college is committed to rewarding hard work and excellence among their staff and students and reminded them that the missing link between them and their dream of becoming a health professional is simply faith and hard work, stating, “By faith, I am referring to your self-belief and confidence in your God-given abilities. Everyone knows that there is an inextricable connection between hard work and success in any of life’s endeavour.
“To achieve their end result would require consistency at lectures, diligence in all academic tasks and assignments, positive association, and the avoidance of all negative behaviour, association, or activities that may endanger or distract them from achieving their goal.
Addressing the matriculating students, the Abia State Commissioner for Digital Economy, Mathew Ekwuruibe said the Alex Otti administration in Abia wants to digitalize the state “to let the world see Abia in the map”.
Before now he said, the state is not doing enough digitally, disclosing that as a result therefore, the state has invited Google to help train Abians and to ensure that Abia investment initiatives shows in the application.
Accord to him, Google will train Abia youths on computer programming languages and will create a sustainable Abia youths that can work anywhere in the world. As a result therefore he said, plans have been concluded to train the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC members in Bende who will in turn train Abians on AI (Artificial Intelligence) and other programming languages.
