A member of Northern Nigerian Traditional Leaders' Committee on Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) and Primary Health Care (PHC) Services and Emir of Shonga in Kwara State, HRH Haliru Yahaya has called on the President-elect, General Mohammadu Buhari to attach priority attention to the new National Health Policy so as to guarantee universal access to basic health services for all Nigerians through a functional primary health care system.

"The in-coming government should, as a matter of necessity, back the new National Health Policy with requisite investments to overhaul the service delivery infrastructure, human resource quality, regulatory instruments, drugs, and supply and commodity distribution systems to deliver quality services, focusing on the most vulnerable populations first." he added.

In a keynote address at the 55th annual general conference of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) held at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan, Yahaya stated that additional resources for health can be mobilized through taxation from Tobacco, Alcohol, GSM, and Oil and Gas, etc. as well as promoting risk pooling through insurance.

In his address titled "The Nigeria health sector: Current trends, burning issues and what the future holds", the traditional ruler reiterated the need for the Federal Government to keep the health sector on the front burner saying "Government will also have to domesticate a National Health Agenda whose underpinning principle will be Universal Health Coverage, delivered in a truly Nigerian way, with voice and accountability to the citizenry".

"The passage of the new Health Act promises to be a game-changer, the incoming administration should be strongly encouraged to show political will by putting health high on its agenda in view of its centrality on the welfare and productivity of its human resources.

"To this end, it should, in partnership with all Nigerians and other stakeholders, mobilize resources/investments in operationalising the new Health Act and other reforms that will enable Nigerians to enjoy better health".

Necessary support, he posited, should be given to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and innovative ways of financing health as well as industrial harmony should be encouraged.

He stressed that Public Private Partnership (PPP), particularly in the building of tertiary/quaternary hospitals will help release more money to the lower levels of health care, simultaneously curtailing medical tourism abroad, with its attendant wastage of scarce resources.

Yahaya further remarked that making traditional and faith institutions, communities and grassroots central in health efforts will ensure that people in the savannah lands of Sokoto, remote fishing villages around Lake Chad or the creeks and fishing villages in the Niger Delta, are listened to and respected, and have access to the most essential life-protecting medical services.

The royal father however called for a massive re-orientation on the part of health workers across the country noting that the negative attitude of some practitioners had often been mentioned as a major factor militating against quality service and uptake of medical services by population.