THE IDEAL SOCIETY

Is there any society that is ideal? I mean a perfect one devoid of corruption and lawlessness. The answer undoubtedly is no but we do know that some nations of the world have these beneath them and these are not really significant issues they confront.

Over the years, the number one cause of underdevelopment in our society is corruption. That is, if we could point our fingers at an entity.

We all know how much we suffer in terms of poor social infrastructure, unemployment of our teeming youths, and poor delivery of services, amongst others.

 Just to mention what Abraham Maslow talked about in 1943 when he proposed the theory of human motivation which is best pictured as a pyramid with the largest and most fundamental levels of need at the bottom and the need for self-actualization at the top.

I will dwell more on the most fundamental levels of need which are physiological needs that are vital for survival such as water, air, food and sleep.

In the Nigeria of today, even the most wanted needs are scarce. Not so many people feed well. Only a few can boast of 3-4 meals per day. Even when these are available, they are not nutritious, affordable and high in quality unlike what obtains in the developed nations where poverty of food almost does not exist. Just in traces.

The same is for water which is supposed to be portable, running from taps and disease-free. That’s why the scourge of water diseases is on the increase.

On the issue of security, we all know what we face as citizens and the things that are not ideal have become ideal. For instance, just because we need protection from hoodlums and armed robbers, we use burglary proofs on our windows which even the town planners don’t include in their planning because they know it is wrong. This is dangerous in case of fire outbreaks when one needs to escape.

I would have loved to expatiate on other security challenges but will just have to mention them. We hardly see fire alarms on our buildings and the emergency services are poor when the services of the fire brigades are needed.

Still on security, we hardly report crimes and assaults on individuals, report of suspicious movements in the neighborhood and so on. Even when such attempts are made to report, there are no efficient call codes for the citizens to report and our police stall in their responses. The police and defense system have been compromised over the years. They take bribes openly. Many Nigerians have lost their lives in an argument with the police. In developed nations, police have the respect of their citizens because they deliver quality services. Unlike our society, they do not move about with guns and they still maintain law and order.

Other security challenges are the porous borders across the country, incessant attacks on innocent citizens by terrorists and other similar groups.

On our judiciary, I know we are improving but there is still a lot to do. We all see and hear of how election results are being changed and how tribunal officials, judges and electoral officials are being bribed. Corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of our society. It has affected the young and the old. School politics has turned into a personal money making venture. Every individual wants to hold a post because of the monetary gain. It should be a service to your organization or nation. In societies where there is law and order, you can’t steal public funds and go away with it.

 In conclusion, I will like to end this piece on awareness creation. We do not create adequate awareness in our society. We have only made it a yearly thing where people gather and mark such events. We are supposed to enforce them daily or weekly for the betterment of our society so that we can be more informed and productive. What are our national televisions and radios there for? They are not just for commercials and soaps. What are the various types of awareness that need to be created? We have so many areas on Health, Education, and Society.

On Health, there is need to inform people on the regular and routine medical checkup, once or twice a year, genotype and HIV status before marriage etcetera.

Societal and social issues like the use of seat belts, proper waste disposal, obedience of traffic rules, prevention of environmental pollution, proper care for animals and not allowing them stray the streets.

Now, we can look back at our society and judge. Is it anywhere near ideal? I just want us to imagine how lives can be better for the citizens where everybody that finishes from school is sure of employment, a society where citizens have health insurance and can pay hospital bills, where people can afford to feed and clothe themselves, where there is stable electricity to enhance productivity and adequate transportation by road and rail, a society where there is law and order, an ideal society for all.

THE NEED TO REVIVE NIGERIA'S AILING HEALTH SYSTEM

Nigeria is a country blessed with so many resources especially natural and human but unfortunately, we have failed to channel these effectively for the betterment of the society particularly to our health system.

Instead of the government to provide jobs, create scientific laboratories for research without power outage, put money in the research of diabetes, brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and other mental illnesses, rather they pump money into the next coming elections. They do not truthfully tackle poverty, hunger and unemployment.

Many of us are just lucky to be alive. We are not sure if we are completely healthy because we do not get the best of health care in terms of proper medical check-up and treatment.

I see patients on the wards many of which will die because of our poor system. The government has neglected their roles when it comes to proper delivery and maintenance of health.

The emergency room is almost nothing to write home about. Facilities are lacking. There is always a shortage of one material or the other. It is not in any way standard. No proper insurance policy. Insurance only covers some certain medications and investigations. You will have to pay for the more expensive ones in a number of cases. Patients cannot afford most investigations let alone treatment. Most patients die because of lack of funds. When such funds are available, there is the problem of out of pocket spending.

When you add both the implicit and explicit costs incurred on health care, the whole resources are gone.

Governments at all levels need to wake up fast. There is need to revive our primary health care centres across the country. They are not adequate and adequately equipped. There is shortage of man power. Staff members are not properly remunerated. This has resulted in a poor working spirit among health workers. Only a few health workers want to stay in the rural areas.

There is a lot of pressure on the tertiary health system.  Many at times, the secondary health system is omitted. It is as if, they don’t exist. For proper health care delivery, there has to be effective referral system beginning from the primary health care centres through the secondary health care centres which are taken charge by most state governments before we can now reach the level of the tertiary system which are largely controlled by the federal government.

I’m not sure we can really boast of organ transplantation as of now in Nigeria apart from kidney transplantation which not too many centres are involved. Other ones done are cornea, gut and skin. No open heart surgery or liver transplant is done in Nigeria because as of now, there are no facilities. People who need these are given referrals to India, South Africa, UK and the US. Referrals have even been sent to Cameroun for paediatric heart surgeries. What a diabetic nature we have as we are suffering in the midst of plenty.

The developed countries of the world are now talking about robotic surgeries, telemedicine and minimally invasive surgeries to a large extent. They transplant heart, kidneys, livers at will.

Medical research centres should be established across the six geopolitical zones with adequate funding and stable electricity. Stable electricity will ensure the preservation of blood and other body tissues as well as vaccines and drugs.

 I believe this outcry is necessary. It’s a shame that Nigeria has not fully combated polio. India with a population of over 1 billion has successfully eradicated polio. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria are now remaining. It is a shame that we share statistics with war torn countries. Maternal mortality and under five mortality are still very high. 

We experience a double burden of both communicable and non communicable diseases to a large extent because of the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

On the issue of HIV and AIDS, Nigeria now ranks second largest country with the largest burden of HIV/AIDS. We need to ask about the funds being channeled on a yearly basis to the management of HIV/AIDS both at the state and federal levels.

On the demographic transition scale, Nigeria is still between stage 1 and stage 2 as we can’t conveniently put Nigeria in stage 2 with a high fertility rate and a little decline in mortality rate. Scandinavian countries like Norway and Sweden are in stage 4 with low fertility and low mortality rates because of the advancement in their health care system. In Nigeria, life expectancy for females is at 47 years while that of males at 45 years. There is a multiplicity of factors responsible for this.

We really need a drastic change. The strategies currently employed are obviously not working effectively. It is evident that there is corruption which is the bane of our problem.

Our primary health care has to be firmly established, adequate in number and well equipped. Health workers need to be motivated and properly remunerated. There need to be a good referral system. The tertiary should not always take the burden. It should be the last resort. Other factors that may cause delay in assessing health care should be addressed.

Primary delay explains the education and attitude of the citizens to health care. Secondary delay which looks into factors like transportation to health care facilities and tertiary delay which can be combated by making sure that man power and equipments are available and functional even after the primary and secondary delays must have been by-passed.

Government needs to increase the budgetary allocation to health. This is very germane and corruption must be tackled with sincerity.

We need to save our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, young ones who are the future of Nigeria.

This article was published on Ynaija Online Magazine on 10th June, 2013: http://www.ynaija.com/opinion-nigerias-disintegrating-health-system/