Some health practitioners have urged the Federal Government to restructure the economy with increased investments/funding in the health sector to address economic challenges and promote overall well-being of citizens.

The health experts spoke in Lagos in commemoration of 2025 Nigeria’s ‘Democracy Day’ on Thursday.

According to them, a stable economy with an effective health system is crucial to progress and overall good health of the citizens.

The President, Association of Psychiatrists of Nigeria, Prof. Taiwo Obindo, urged Nigerians to be more resilient and be hopeful, saying that the situation of the economy would get better someday.

Mr Obindo advised that anyone with any sign of mental health illness – difficulty with sleep, controlling thoughts among others, should endeavour to seek medical help from specialist as soon as possible.

To the government, he advised that more attention should be paid to health, by increasing the budget allocation to the health sector and by extension to the mental health subsector.

According to him, it’s time the government stopped paying lip-service to health, saying that health is the wealth of the nation and if the citizens are healthy, they will be more productive.

He urged the government to revisit the “Abuja Declaration 2001,’’ where it was declared that a minimum of 15 per cent of the budget would be allocated to health.

He decried that the highest allocation the health sector had was either six or seven per cent, stressing the need for full implementation of the Declaration.  

Mr Obindo also urged the government to restructure and expand the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) such that Nigerians would not need to pay out-of-pocket for healthcare services.

The psychiatrist further urged the government to intensify effort to implement the National Mental Health Act 2021.

According to him, implementation of the act is paramount, as it will enable people with mental health illness to boldly seek help, reduce stigmatisation and enhance access to mental healthcare services across the country.

He stated, “Health is the wealth of the nation. If the citizens are healthy, they would be able function better and be more productive. There’s need to adequately make provision for health.

“In fact, with the challenges the nation is having with insurgency, insecurity and economic policies, we need to do more because the cost of healthcare is astronomically high.

“Similarly, the health insurance needs to have more coverage so that Nigerians can easily walk into healthcare facilities to access healthcare without having to pay out of pocket but pay a maximum of 10 per cent of the medical bills as enshrined in the NHIS. Lastly, full integration of mental health services into primary healthcare needs to be done.’’

In his contribution, a medical imaging scientist, Dr Livinus Abonyi, said there was a need to overhaul the whole architecture of the Nigerian economy and the principles of the nation’s leadership to effect positive changes.

Mr Abonyi, a lecturer at the Lagos University College of Medicine, decried the hardship and high inflation in the country, which had made an average Nigerian to lose hope of surviving.

According to him, the nation’s health sector is crumbling due to shortage of manpower, high inflation, high cost of drugs/healthcare and high cost of living among others.

 He lamented that, with the current high inflation, the health sector could not survive because of its sensitive nature, stressing the need to stabilise the economy and by extension, the health sector.

Mr Abonyi said, “Overhauling the Nigerian economy particularly the principles of its leadership is of immense importance, because with only that, every other thing will fall into place. This is because the nation is losing all its trained hands in the health sector and nothing tangible is done to halt the trend. Almost all the trained medical professionals have relocated abroad to practice. Presently, there is serious shortage of manpower in the health sector. No doubt, the high inflation has made life unbearable. The cost of healthcare and drugs are not within the reach of an average Nigerian,”

(NAN)