State-of-emergency in health sector long over due, says Vice Chancellor

The Vice Chancellor, Rivers State University, Prof. Blessing Didia, has called for the declaration of a state-of-emergency in the health sector, as it is long overdue.

Didia said the country’s health service delivery is in crisis, resulting in the loss of scarce resources through medical tourism, which negatively affect other sectors of the economy.

He said this in Port Harcourt, yesterday, at the 33rd Committee of Directors of Health Services in Nigerian Universities and the 17th National Association of Doctors in University Health Services (NADUHS).

He described the theme of the conference: “University Health Services: Expanding the frontiers of service delivery” as apt, because university health centres could champion the reversal.

Similarly, the President, NADUHS, Dr. Salihu Musa, regretted that industrial disharmony has been an albatross in the smooth running of what he described as the already weak Nigerian health system.

He, however, said such challenge would be history, if Yayale Ahmed Committee’s report is adopted.