I never knew Nigeria’s healthcare system was this bad – SGF

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha has lamented the deplorable state of the nation’s healthcare system.

Mustapha, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said that he never knew that the healthcare system was this bad.

The task force boss stated this on Thursday during a briefing of the National Assembly leadership and other members of the task force on the state of the work done by the task force.

According to him, lawmakers must contribute to the revamping of the nation’s healthcare system through the enactment of the enabling framework.

Mustapha warned that should COVID-19 cases increase in the country, the nation’s healthcare infrastructure would be incapable of handling the situation.

“I can tell you for sure that I never knew our entire healthcare was in the state at which it is until I was appointed to do this work.

“Our health infrastructure is in the most deplorable state if countries in Western Europe or America can be overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, my prayer is that we don’t get to that stage.

“We do not have an infrastructure that can carry that burden,” the SGF said.

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He said that for the sake of transparency, his task force would not be directly involved in the disbursement and management of resources donated to aid COVID-19 response.

According to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), there are 288 confirmed cases in Nigeria with 51 discharged and seven deaths as of April 9.