Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, the senator representing Imo East Senatorial district has urged the Federal Government to ensure that there is a Universal health coverage in Nigeria.
He noted that Health is too serious to be left to chance.
“As a representative of the Imo East Senatorial district, I rise in strong support of the proposed legislation to boost domestic investment and enhance our healthcare system. This bill is not just necessary; it is a critical pillar for Nigeria’s development.
The current state of healthcare in our nation is a crisis. When citizens, especially our constituents, are forced by poverty to resort to quacks or turn to prayer houses for issues that should be handled at a primary healthcare level, we know the system has failed them. I, too, believe in the efficacy of prayer, but we cannot allow financial barriers to be the driving force behind where people seek medical help.
Health as a Government Priority
In many developed countries, like Canada, healthcare is essentially a government-backed service. You rarely find private hospitals because the sector is deemed too important to be left to the individual, especially in a poor country like ours. This highlights a fundamental truth: health is a right, not a luxury.
Learning from the World:
The legislative intervention before us is the remedy. It will drive universal health coverage and enhance the efficiency of our medical sector. This is the permanent solution we need.
From Outreach to Insurance:
A Practical Solution
In my routine health interventions, I’ve seen firsthand the limitations of short-term fixes. We organize medical outreaches, give out two or three weeks’ worth of medication for ailments like high blood pressure, and then I’m left asking: What happens to these people when we leave?
The only sustainable answer is health insurance.
I have personally implemented a health insurance system in my own constituency projects, and I can testify that it is working wonders. It provides a durable safety net that medical outreaches simply cannot replicate. An investment in this bill is an investment in the health insurance policy, which will fundamentally change access to care for millions of Nigerians.
I urge my distinguished colleagues to support the second reading of this bill. Let us give our people the access to health insurance they deserve. Let us make healthcare a secure future, not a desperate gamble”.
