Addressing Inadequate Orthopedic Hospitals in Nigeria: Issues for National Assembly Consideration
Working Paper
Given a population size of over 210 million people, and the rising trends in injuries to bones, ligaments, and tendons, sustained by road accident victims, and insurgents’ attack victims, amongst others, the need for the establishment of orthopedic hospitals across the geopolitical zones in the country cannot be overemphasized. Whereas, the National Health Policy 2017 aims at strengthening and prioritizing the role of the government in shaping health systems including orthopaedic treatment in Nigeria. Suffice that during the regional government arrangement, the National Orthopedic Hospital Management Board Act, 2004 had established only three (3) National Orthopaedic Hospitals located at; Kano (Northern Region), Enugu (Eastern Region), and Lagos (Western Region). Cognizant of geopolitical balancing of specialized medical institutions such as the Orthopaedic Hospitals in Nigeria, it is imperative to establish additional three (3) Orthopedic Hospitals in the South-South, North-Central and North-East geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Given the present situation, Nigerian citizens in the aforementioned geopolitical zones are denied access to orthopedic treatment and medical services. Consequently, accident victims and other individuals that need orthopaedic treatment and services have to travel long distances to other geopolitical zones (Kano, Lagos, or Enugu) to access medical care. Regarding the cost of establishing the Hospital, our analysis shows that the on average, it takes about N3.1 billion to fund each existing orthopedic hospital.