The newly elected President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Prof. Afekhide Omoti, has called on the Federal Government to declare the health sector a national emergency over the next 10 years to revamp the struggling sector.
Omoti said urgent and coordinated intervention was needed to address challenges affecting healthcare delivery, workforce retention, and hospital infrastructure across the country.
The NMA president stressed that both federal and state governments must treat the health sector as a priority area over the next 10 years.
Omoti, a professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Benin, Edo State, was recently elected as the NMA president at the association’s 66th Annual General Conference and Delegates Meeting.
The NMA president’s demand was coming amid increasing calls for reforms aimed at strengthening healthcare financing, improving working conditions for health workers, and expanding access to quality medical care nationwide.
Experts have repeatedly warned that inadequate funding, poor welfare conditions, and limited infrastructure continue to undermine healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Stakeholders in the health sector have also raised concerns over the growing emigration of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, which they say is worsening manpower shortages in both public and private health institutions.