Governance and Public Health Care in Nigeria

The article examines how the management of Nigeria's public health care system reinforces poverty in the Niger Delta region. In recent times medical doctors have frequently embarked on strike as a strategy for compelling the government to improve the health care system. During periods of strikes patients are left without medical attention. Since a majority of the people are poor, they find it difficult to afford medical care in private hospitals. The inability to get proper health care adversely affects the poor. This sometimes results in children becoming victims of child labour and involvement in anti-social activities. The inefficiency in Nigeria's health care system can be attributed to inadequate attention given to health care services delivery by the government. This has adverse consequences on the people, especially the poor. This makes it necessary that we investigate the extent to which this present situation serves as a reinforcing mechanism which causes poverty to persist. The Niger Delta is chosen as the study area because of the existing level of poverty and underdevelopment. The study relied on both primary and secondary data. The interview method was used to collect primary data. Secondary data were collected from hospital records in selected public hospitals in the Niger Delta. The study shows that inefficiency in public hospitals serves as a reinforcing mechanism which causes poverty to persist. In order to reverse this situation the study recommends among other things that the government should declare a state of emergency in the public health sector and allocate adequate resources for improving the quality of equipments and manpower in public hospitals.