IF I WERE THE MINISTER OF HEALTH (1)

Any person anywhere being inclined and having the power has the right to rise up and shake up the existing government and form a new one; a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world.

• Abraham Lincoln

First of all permit me to define the two key words; health and minister. Health is defined as the mental and physical well-being of a person. It is the state of being physically and psychologically balanced. However, a minister is a member of the president's cabinet who is delegated by authority to perform in a particular section of the country. The minister of health is therefore the political head of all health institutions in the country. He or she is at the top of administration as far as the health sector is concerned. He or she also assists in the implementation of health projects and agenda for the political party he or she represents.

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What is health without the means of ensuring it?

As the minister of health of the federal republic of Nigeria, I would have overall responsibility for ensuring that quality, appropriate, cost effective and timely health services are available for all Nigerians through the formulation of good health policies and proper coordination of the various activities in the health sector.

In Nigeria, we have poor primary health facilities, lack of functioning cancer machines, malnutrition, poor health emergency responses among others. The Nigerian govt does not allocate enough funds for health interventions. It is not their priority. But ideas don't come out fully formed, they only become clear as you work on them. We just have to get started with adequate determination, dedication and competitive drive.

As the health minister, I would ensure that health is the foremost and the most important sector. This is obviously not so in the modern day Nigeria. The amount budgeted for the health sector for 2017 is $850 million translating to about $5 per person for a whole year while the United states of America spends at least $7000 on each citizen equivalent to 3.5 million Nigerian Naira just for health care.

There are only three things which cannot be hidden

The sun, the moon and the truth. If I were the minister of health, I will solely state the need to take our health serious. Only a healthy nation can plan for security, development or economic advancement.

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If I were the minister of health, I would station and build comprehensive medical centres in every local government across the country. . This is mainly to facilitate good medical care to the citizens instead of wasting the country's resources on medical tourism which I strongly feel should be not be encouraged in Nigeria to save foreign exchange and prevent capital flight. This would be achieved through the provision of all medical needs such as drugs, expert medical doctors, nurses and surgeons.

Existing hospitals, health centres and cottage hospitals would be refurbished and all the old buildings and obsolete clinical equipments and materials will be replaced with new ones adequately. These hospitals would provide free and regular medical checkups for the citizens, vaccination against diseases like Polio and malaria, both in the hospitals and in schools. There would also be drugs at subsidized rates for the treatment of common and overlooked illness like Acute Coryza (common cold), Catarrh, fever etc.

What qualifies a person to be an effective minister of health?

He or she should have a degree in health related courses like nursing, medical rehabilitation, medicine and the like and if possible a PhD. This would call for dexterity and discipline as the post of the minister of health would not be a wild goose chase because of the high qualification and responsibility required.If I were the health minister, I wouldn't just be a politician, I would also be a medical practitioner(an undergraduate of the department of nursing science). This will enable me to see things in two totally different ways. I would be experienced and versatile in making delicate decisions.

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Also, awareness on various diseases and infections would be communicated to the citizens through the mass media both Print and Electronic. By this means, no one would be left out in the proper dissemination of vital information. For example, information regarding the origin, mode of transmission and the methods of prevention of the viral and recent monkey pox disease would be communicated to the public just like Ebola in 2014 and Lassa fever in 2016.

Ignorance is not an excuse in the battle of life. In fact, it kills and destroys.
Knowledge is power.

To be continued in the next post...

Stay tuned and thank you for reading this.