Delta State Governor Flags of Free Healthcare
This is a good gesture and I commend the Gov. for his initial step. However, being a sustainable development expert, I doubt the impact of the governor's action because I believe that he has not created the enabling environment to allow the programme to succeed. For instance, where will these children get the free healthcare from? Is it in the existing hospitals in Delta state? We all know that the government hospitals are not functional. Most Deltans (like most Nigerians) are forced to resort to self medication or pay high premium to private hospitals. I recently visited Delta state for a funeral and just behind where I was sitted, a young boy of about 20yrs was stabbed with a bottle after an argument. We took the boy to a state government hospital at about 9pm but the doctor was not in town so it was a nurse who attended to him. Even at that, we pleaded and parted with some money before she even looked at the injured boy. To make matters worse, there was no light and the hospital generator was out of fuel so I had to hold a touch to enable the nurse stitch the head injuries. So is this the kind of free healthcare that the governor is flagging off? Does the governor not know that the hospitals are not working? Do you need a soothsayer to find out? This is why I doubt the sincerity of this free healthcare programme. I believe that the governor should spend more time and funds making the hospitals work and then parents can pay a small fee (nothing wrong with free care anyway), afterall the poor already pay too much for health.
Lewis
