10th February, 2025
By Jethro Ibileke
The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Adekunle Salako, has assured of increased funding for Nigeria’s health sector by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He gave the assurance on Monday, during a working visit to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).
Salako who commended the UBTH management team for their dedication and innovation in the Hospital, stated that the government prioritises and values health workers.
“The challenge of ‘Japa’ in the health sector is mostly an economic challenge and we will continue to address it. But, economic problem is practically beyond the health sector. I believe that the direction of ‘Japa’ will eventually be reversed.
“Withing the economic ability of Nigeria, health workers are still the best paid in our country today, which means that government prioritizes and value health workers.
“We will continue to canvass for increased funding for the healthcare sector, and of course, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has clearly demonstrated his priority attention to the health sector.
“Not many things that we asked the president that he doesn’t do. He knows the value of health and he is giving a lot of attention to the health sector and we are just going to encourage us to continue to reciprocate our commitment, hard work and dedication to the people,” he said.
Earlier the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Prof Darlington Obaseki, described the tertiary health institution as a major training ground for Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
He, however, described the 250 Consultants, 300 Resident Doctors and 750 Nurses working in the Hospital as grossly inadequate to care for the over 500 patients that visit everyday.
“We are a major producer of healthcare workforce in Nigeria. We train Resident Doctors, we produce specialized medical manpower for Nigeria.
“We have about 29 clinical departments out of which 28 departments are fully accredited by the West African Colleges,” he said.
The CMD however, commended President Tinubu for increased funding to the Hospital.
“We have to thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, since he came on board, there has been increased funding for the health sector, it has not been like this for a long time.
“Since I’ve been on board, there has never been funding in the health sector like this in last year and this year and this has allowed us do so many things like the physical infrastructure that you’ve seen,” he said.
