Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Senate, has called for immediate changes to the country’s healthcare system, stating that no Nigerian should pass away from preventable illnesses.

This came as he proclaimed that every Nigerian has a fundamental right to high-quality medical care, not a privilege.

Akpabio made this statement during Thursday’s Senate Committee on Health (Secondary & Tertiary) Public Hearing, reaffirming the Senate’s commitment to providing all citizens with effective and easily accessible healthcare services.

The Senate President bemoaned the status of the country’s healthcare system in a statement made through Oyetola Ashiru, the Deputy Senate leader.

He emphasized that every avoidable death signifies not only the loss of life but also the loss of a dream and a future contribution, calling it a failure we must not accept  to the nation’s greatness.

We lose more than just a life when a Nigerian passes away from a curable illness; we also lose a dream, a future, and a fragment of the magnificence of our country.

“With unwavering resolve, we must decide that no more lives will be lost because of inadequate facilities, no more families will suffer because of a lack of hope, and no more compatriots will die because of a lack of medical knowledge,” he said.

He also brought up the large number of Nigerians who are compelled to seek medical care overseas and the enormous migration of Nigerian medical experts to other nations.

Nigeria needs to develop a self-sufficient healthcare system that keeps its best talent and offers high-quality medical care at home, the Senate president said, calling the current state of affairs intolerable.

A number of important bills that are being considered to modernize the nation’s secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities were the main focus of the public hearing.

By promising that the Federal Government would not disregard their suffering or treat healthcare as a luxury but rather as a fundamental right, Akpabio reassured Nigerians that the 10th Senate is totally dedicated to their well-being.