Abiodun Essiet Initiative for Girls, today, held a memorial lecture in honor of late Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Victor Udoeka Essiet
, one of our founding members of Board of Directors. The lecture titled " the State of Healthcare Financing in Nigeria" was delivered by Maj. Gen. (rtd) Dr. A.E Life Ajemba, former Director General, Ministry of Defense Health Implementation (MODHIP), and currently the Chief Medicine/Cardiology, Defense Medical Center, Abuja.
In her welcome address, Mrs. Abiodun Essiet, founder, Abiodun Essiet Initiative for Girls recounted the events that led to her husband's death, while calling on the government to do more in financing the health sector and equip our hospitals to manage health situations and stem the tide of avoidable deaths. "When he fell ill, he was taken to four different hospitals including general hospitals, but he was turned back because those hospitals had no bed space, and barely had proper equipment and facilities like oxygen, to manage the situation. These is the experience of millions of people in Nigeria on a daily basis and the health condition of the patient usually get worse or even lose their lives in the process of commuting from one hospital to another. If our hospitals are well funded and equipped by the government, and he was given adequate care at the first hospital he was taken to, maybe he would have been here with us today instead of doing this in his memory".
The keynote speaker, Maj. Gen. (rtd) Dr. A.E Life Ajemba, urged government at all levels to make the health sector a priority in their yearly budgetary allocations, at least, meet up to the 15% commitment as prescribed by the Abuja Declaration of 2001. He also taxed the government to put measures in place to check corruption, which has bedeviled every sector of the country. "when corruption is not checked, even the little effort made by the government will be truncated"
Among dignitaries present is the representative, Corp Commander, Nigerian Army Medical Corp; high ranking military officers; the Director MacArthur Foundation Nigeria Office; ActionAid Nigeria Country Director; representative, Executive Secretary, NHIS; and the immediate past Chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council.