The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, is currently at the Red Chambers briefing the Senate about the current state of healthcare facilities and services across the nation.
Senate President Bukola Saraki while introducing the Health Minister to the House said the lawmakers are concerned about the deteriorating conditions of facilities at teaching hospitals across the nation.
“We would give you the opportunity to take the floor to brief the Senate on the state of affairs of the Nigerian Teaching Hospitals. We are concerned with the deteriorating conditions of our hospital facilities across the country.
“Despite the annual budgetary allocation to the health sector, Nigerians are still dying because of obsolete equipment, the poor state of infrastructure, lack of generating sets, lack of power, sometimes lack of diesel, lack of drugs, etc which we are very concerned about.
“We will like to hear from you on what the true situation is, what solutions and measures you have to address the problem that is affecting the entire country and after that, we will take questions from my colleagues,” Saraki said.
The appearance of the Health Minister before the Senate follows a resolution of the Senate last week to invite the minister over a motion querying the state of the nation’s teaching hospitals.
The motion sponsored by Senator David Umar follows an alarming report on the poor quality of service in Nigerian teaching hospitals.
According to Senator Umaru, the report contained in a daily newspaper observed that most teaching hospitals in the country have been overstretched, forcing patients to sleep on bare floors, plastic mats, and unhygienic conditions.
