The Nigerian Senate has invited Prof. Isaac Adewole, the Minister of Health, over the poor state of teaching hospitals in the country.
The lawmakers are demanding accountability on the funds allocated to the health sector by the Federal Government through the years.
Senator David Umaru moved the motion during plenary on Wednesday debated the movement entitled ‘Alarming Report on Poor Quality of Services in Nigerian Teaching Hospitals.’
The lawmakers decry the poor services rendered by public health institutions in the country.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who presided over the session, blamed the decay in the country’s health facilities on corruption.
Saraki said, “It is a very important and urgent intervention that is required from us. So, we need to get the minister here as quickly as possible. As you all have said, it gives one a great concern when you consider every year, a budgetary allocation is made. No matter how inadequate it is, surely it should be adequate enough to be able to have a facility that patients can be taken care of.
“Where patients are lying on the floors, surely, is a big shame to the institution. Surely, as you all rightly said, it is corruption. It means that the majority of these budgetary allocations are not used for what they were allocated for, they must have been used for something else. That is why I am happy that the next item we have (on the Order Paper) is the need to strengthen the auditor-general’s office.
“Honestly, we will begin to clearly oversee monies being sent to MDAs will continue to have this kind of problem. How inadequate can funding be that there is no light, patients are lying on the floor but, meanwhile, they are getting allocations everytime? And they are getting revenue too. There is a serious problem. I hope we will be able to see what steps we can take urgently.”
