A Professor of Medicine at the University of Lagos, Olufemi Fasanmade, on Thursday, called on the Federal Government to make health insurance compulsory for Nigerians as rising cases of hypertension, diabetes, kidney failure and other non-communicable diseases continue to deepen the country’s healthcare burden and push many households into financial distress.
He made this call while speaking with The PUNCH on the sidelines of the 15th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Association of Clinical Endocrinologists of Nigeria, Ibadan 2026, held at the Dame Edith Okowa Auditorium, University of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The conference had as its theme: “The Crisis of Access: Ensuring Affordable and Available Essential Endocrine Medicines.”
Fasanmade said voluntary health insurance enrollment had failed in Nigeria, insisting that only a mandatory system backed by expanded taxation could guarantee universal access to healthcare.
“If they don’t make it mandatory, people will not enrol. The same way VAT is collected, money should also be channelled into healthcare so that every Nigerian can be treated,” he said.
He stressed that healthcare remains a fundamental right that should not depend on income or employment status, warning that it was unacceptable for citizens to die from treatable conditions due to lack of funds.
“Healthcare is an inalienable right. It is a tragedy when people die because they cannot afford treatment. Even in other countries, emergency care is provided regardless of ability to pay. Somebody is still paying for it through a system,” he said.
The don explained that taxation remains a critical source of healthcare financing, noting that weak tax compliance in Nigeria was worsening public infrastructure, including the health sector.
Fasanmade added that Nigeria’s low health insurance coverage, estimated at less than 10 percent was leaving millions exposed to catastrophic health expenses.
“Chronic diseases such as kidney failure impose unbearable financial pressure on families. A patient with kidney failure may spend between N50,000 and N100,000 weekly. No salary can sustain that. That is why insurance is not optional; it is survival,” he said.
He also lamented the rising number of preventable deaths in hospitals due to inability to pay medical bills, noting that patients with diabetes, hypertension and cancer were often left untreated or forced to seek spiritual intervention due to cost barriers.
“People are dying from conditions that are treatable. Some cannot afford N10,000 in emergencies. That is a failure of both governance and participation in healthcare financing,” he added.
He urged the government to expand the tax net and ensure more Nigerians are enrolled in health insurance schemes, adding that healthcare financing should be treated with the same urgency as taxation for infrastructure development.
Also speaking, the President of ACEN, Prof Williams Balogun, warned that rising inflation in the health sector was worsening access to treatment, with drug prices and medical services becoming increasingly unaffordable.
He said health inflation had reached 30.4 per cent as of January 2026, driven largely by the cost of imported drugs and equipment.
“Even with a minimum wage of N70,000, many patients cannot sustain treatment for chronic conditions that require lifelong care,” he said.
Balogun also raised concerns over brain drain in the medical sector, noting that many newly trained specialists leave the country shortly after graduation, further straining an already stretched health system.
Declaring the conference open, the state Commissioner for Health, Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, said Nigeria is undergoing a major health transition marked by a rising burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
She disclosed that millions of Nigerians are living with diabetes, many of them undiagnosed, while hypertension affects about one in four adults in Oyo State.
“The crisis we are facing is not always loud. It is silent, patients who know they need treatment but cannot afford it, and systems that struggle to deliver care consistently,” she said.
Ajetunmobi said the State Government had strengthened primary healthcare services, expanded screening programmes, and improved drug supply chains to reduce out-of-pocket spending.
She added that efforts were ongoing to integrate non-communicable disease care into existing health programmes and promote local pharmaceutical production to reduce dependence on imported medicines.
The Chairperson of the conference organising committee, Dr Jokotade Adeleye, said the meeting was aimed at developing practical solutions to improve access to essential endocrine medicines in Nigeria.
She noted that the gap between clinical need and access to treatment had widened significantly, stressing the need for coordinated policy, financing, and clinical interventions
