By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Former governor of Imo State, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, has called for the establishment of a Medical Research and Development Fund solely dedicated to research in health and health related disciplines as a way of tackling the myriad problems in the country’s health sector.
Ihedioha made the call on Monday while delivering the keynote address at the 53rd meeting of the Association of Resident Doctors, University College Hospital, Ibadan.
The former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was welcomed to the College by the Chief Medical Director, Prof Jesse Abiodun Otegbayo, said such a fund “could be managed by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) or domiciled separately under the trusteeship of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences, not the Central Bank of Nigeria or any other organization that will add to the existing bureaucratic bottlenecks encountered when dealing with funding institutions.”
His lecture was titled, “The politics of health: How to engage, enable and mobilise the legislature in strengthening the Nigerian health system.”
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Ihedioha said the envisioned fund will be disbursed as grants and endowments of chairs to deserving researchers who will be selected by a board of eminent medical scientists.
He said the fund will be deployed in “finding answers to the many issues contributing to our poor health and development indices.”
“The fund will also be used to sponsor annual health research fairs where researchers from all over the country will showcase their works and be handsomely appreciated.
“Doing this will elevate ARD, NARD and NMA to another realm and status of reckoning from that of strike mongers that many wrongly label them to patriotic professional associations contributing towards the liberation of Nigeria from the shackles of under development, poverty, diseases and low life expectancy.
“Creating a robust environment where excellence thrives will also help in stemming the tides of brain drain and medical tourism, the two most-talked about challenges militating against the healthcare sector in Nigeria today,” he said.
Underscoring the significance of healthcare within the governance architecture, Ihedioha tasked resident doctors on research while advocating a robust engagement of doctors with the National Assembly that will promote strategic partnership between doctors and their lawmakers.
“This strategic partnership is in the area of your strength where you have comparative advantage – Research and Development.”
He reiterated that “no country can make any meaningful progress in any aspect of human endeavour without committing appropriate resources to research and development.
“As resident doctors recruited into specialist training in the medical and surgical specialties, you should not only be satisfied with the prompt payment of your salaries and other allowances as stipulated in the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) provided in the Medical Residency Training Act (2017).
“The dearth of reliable statistics and near absence of quality primary as well as translational research should bother you because without reliable statistics on the pattern of the various existing, emerging and re-emerging diseases in the country, government will not be able to allocate adequate resources to address them.”
Ihedioha who noted that the role of the legislature in providing sustainable healthcare is a constitutional responsibility within the prism of section 14(2)(b) as it concerns the security and welfare of citizens, canvassed for a more positive relationship and partnership between the National Assembly and critical stakeholders within the health sector.
While calling for improved healthcare appropriations to enhance healthcare financing and enactment of health related legislations, Ihedioha said a “robust parliamentary representation of the electorate; comprehensive oversight on implementation of the laws, policies and frameworks by the executive including monitoring budget performance; viable and cooperative partnerships, are all necessary paths to redefining and strengthening the nation’s healthcare system.”