President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed past leaders, especially the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, for the rot in the nation’s health sector.
Buhari spoke while delivering his speech at the 58th Annual Delegates’ Meeting and scientific conference of the Nigeria Medical Association in Abuja on Thursday.
The President, who was represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, said when the global price of crude oil was over $100 per barrel per day, the Jonathan administration failed to seize the opportunity to invest in the health sector.
He said investments in public health care must be improved.
The President however stressed that paying for health care from budgets would not be able to improve the health sector unless other concerned parties and donor agencies augment government’s efforts.
His words, “It is no longer news that we inherited a troubled health care sector and the sector has been troubled for a long time.
“As one of the manifestations of the severely low spending on infrastructure generally and in health care in particular, I think that what we have seen through the years is a scandalously low level of funding for public health care in Nigeria.
“The level of public sector investment in health care in our recent past has in no way reflected our earnings, the high oil earnings, especially in the period between 2010 and 2015. That was when we earned the highest from oil prices.”
The President added that insurgency in the North-East, which started in the period, further brought the health sector to its knees with the attendant impact on the level of immunisation.
