Lack of adequate equipment for healthcare – The agony of patients and nurses: A review

Abstract

The health sector is crucial to the growth and development of a nation. Despite sound policies and interventions to develop the Nigerian health sector, there are challenges that continue to reduce the progress and achievement of universal access to healthcare. The major factors that affect the overall performance of the health system include inadequate health facilities/structure, poor human resources and management, poor remuneration and motivation, lack of fair and sustainable healthcare financing, unequal economic and political relations. Other factors inlucde neo-liberal economic policies of the Nigerian state, corruption, illiteracy, very low government spending on health, high out-of-pocket expenditure in health, and the absence of an integrated system for disease prevention, surveillance and treatment, inadequate mechanisms for families to access healthcare, and the most persistent problem, the shortage of basic and essential equipment in most public health facilities in Nigeria. The agony which patients and nurses are passing through due to the non-availability of equipment needed to render the required services causes inefficient service delivery and increases job stress. This review paper describes the enormity of the problems and recommends options vital to addressing the problem to attain equilibrium in demand, quality and efficiency in healthcare delivery.