Nigeria should cash in on the coronavirus catastrophe to launch a national health plan

By Ayo Akinfe

[1] Unfortunately, we have had at least one confirmed case of coronavirus in Nigeria. I sincerely hope it does not lead to a fatality and that the virus is contained. However, there is a silver lining in every cloud and we should try building something from this

[2] First of all, given the global nature of this virus, the international community will be happy to provide us with health funding to address this. Our health minister should be drawing up ambitious plans with figures

[3] We all saw how China built a hospital within two weeks to address this virus. I actually think that if Nigeria approaches them and asks them to build a similar one in say Lagos, they will happily oblige. We want a coronavirus hospital built in Lagos by the end of March

[4] While we are at it, we should be telling the World Health Organisation that we do not just want centre for coronavirus but one for all tropical diseases like say malaria, typhoid fever, polio, ebola, etc

[5] It appears that black people are more resistant to coronavirus than caucasians. Nigeria should be demanding the building of a global research centre in Abuja to look further into this

[6] If we get all these global bodies pouring health funding into Nigeria, we should use it as a platform to build a comprehensive national health service. All we need to do is show the world the state of some of our hospitals and they will appreciate the fact that they need to do something about them

[7] Given China's experience with dealing with viruses like Sars and coronavirus, we should make it clear to them that they are at risk unless Nigeria has the same insulation as them. We should ask them to train 500 Nigerian doctors every year as a safety plan

[8] Nigeria should also insist that at least two major pharmaceutical companies come and open plants in Nigeria to manufacture drugs for tropical ailments

[9] Our case to the international community should be that if they want us to pull our weight when it comes to health matters, we need at least one general hospital in each of out 774 local government areas

[10] This should also be used as an opportunity to launch a national vaccination programme for all known tropical diseases