80 per cent of Nigerians lack access to oral health care

80 per cent of Nigerians lack access to oral health care – Minister of health

– Nigeria health minister, Isaac Adewole claimed that 8 out of every 10 Nigerians lack access to oral health care service

– Nigeria’s last comprehensive oral health care was done twenty years ago, according to a professor of community dentistry

– A report has also shown that Nigerians do not have enough dentists to provide oral health care

Nigeria health minister, Professor Isaac Adewole recently claimed that eight out of every ten Nigerians lack access to oral health care.

A research done by Africa Check has shown that the minister of health’s claim that 80% of Nigerians do not have access to oral health care service is unproven, as the minister is yet to provide evidence to back his claim.

8 out of 10 Nigerians lack access to oral health care – Health minister

What this claim by the minister means is that more than 150 million Nigerians out of 193 million population, are currently lacking good oral health care service and probably have never consulted a dentist.

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According to Bode Akinola who spoke to Afirca Check, on behalf of the minister, not all available primary health cares in Nigeria are functioning well. Bode said: “There are about 30,000 primary health care centres in Nigeria and only about 20% of them are functional”.

In 2015, a non-governmental organization, Public Private Development Centre sampled 40 out of 89 primary health care contracts that were awarded to public hospitals (which also provide primary health care) in 7 states in 2014. The NGO came out with a report that majority of the hospitals were either in active or running skeletal services.

Chike Okafor, head of parliamentary committee reportedly said at a public hearing that: “Most centres lack drug supplies, basic health infrastructure and cannot boast of a good number of medical personnel”.

Although, the Nigeria federal government recently announced the commencement of free health service in the country, Africa Check reported that most government hospitals are not free. In a country of 193 million people where more than half of them live under a dollar per day, there is no doubt that majority of the people cannot afford adequate medical health care, and probably do not consult health providers unless they are seriously ill.

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The head of Nigeria Dental Association Dr. Olabode Ijarogbe said: “People only see their dentists when something is terribly wrong. The economic [cost] of a mere toothache could be great.”

The vice president of Dental Association, M.O Asiwaju in an interview with Africa Check said: “Fewer than 5,000 registered dentists are serving Nigeria’s teeming population.”

What this statistic means is that Nigeria as a nation does not have enough dentists and even if there are functional hospitals for oral health care, the country still does not have enough health providers to occupy this hospitals.