Nigeria’s fragile economy is affecting the health of its poorer citizens as the number of people visiting hospitals is increasing on a daily basis, BusinessDay investigations show.
Economic growth in Nigeria slowed in the 2nd quarter (Q2) of 2018 to 1.5 per cent from the 1.95 growth recorded in the previous quarter (Q1).
In the same vein, a report by a US-based non-profit organisation Brookings institute showed that every minute, six Nigerians enter into the poverty line, making Africa’s largest economy overtake India as country with the highest number of extremely poor people in the world.
Experts in the health sector who spoke to BusinessDay said there are an increasing number of patients visiting hospitals due to a surge in diseases, poor nutrition and stress against the backdrop of decaying infrastructure and poverty.
“What this means is that millions of Nigeria’s are being pushed into extreme poverty because they must pay for health care out of their own pockets,” a health expert told BusinessDay
“This worrisome position has resulted in a situation where out of pocket expenditure as a share of current health expenditure in Nigeria rose to 72 percent,” say experts.
In 2016, the Nigerian economy was hit by a lengthy recession. Since then, the economy has been slow to recover, with growth rates less than half the levels prior to the recession and consumer income eroded by higher inflation.
“When the economy suffers, peoples health get worse because there is almost no aliment that stress and thinking does not contribute to,” Adesimbo Ukiri, chief executive officer, Avon HMO said.
Ukiri said there are more people in need of healthcare since the economic slowdown began in 2016.
“We felt it as an HMO because we saw more visits to the hospitals, more people getting hypertensive. We saw normal well managed hypertension start moving from the category of minimum risk to high risk,” Ukiri said.
According to her, some manage to visit the hospitals despite the financial constrains while some do not bother, rather they visit the chemists because they do not have the fund.
“The level of stress people face is huge in the country and stress reduces immunity. When you do not get enough sleep as well, the body cannot replenish its self the way it’s meant to.
“You cannot separate economic growth from health, when you have a healthy workforce then they are more productive,” she added.
Similarly, Mercy Ada Ayinwe, health economist at the University of Benin said the economy is still very fragile with slowing economic activities which in turn is affecting consumer’s pocket.
“Whenever people are affected financially, it affects them psychologically making them think and increasing the number of hypertensive patients,” Ayinwe said.
According to a new report from the World Bank and the World Health Organization, at least half of the world’s population cannot obtain essential health services.
Each year, large numbers of households are being pushed into poverty because they must pay for health care out of pocket.
Tayo Lawal, medical director Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos told BusinessDay that as poverty rises; many people who visit the hospitals come with one ailment or the other, communicable or non- communicable diseases.
“Majority of people them come with malaria, fever, especially diarrhoea from the paediatric section , but when it come to the adults, we see more of non- communicable diseases in likes of hypertension, diabetes, kidney failure and others.”
Lawal explained that this often leads to overcrowding and people spending more time in the hospital.
“The genesis is brain drain in the industry because the country seems to be producing doctors for United Kingdom, Canada and United State of America; they are taking up on the average, about 15 doctors per week from Nigeria and that is quite a huge number.”
ANTHONIA OBOKOH & MICHEAL ANI
