Infrastructural distribution of healthcare services in Nigeria: An overview

Abstract

Discussions of health-care infrastructure in Sub -Saharan Africa in general and in Nigeria in particular have
recognized the existence of different types and practices. This paper examines the biomedical or western orthodox
healthcare with its expansive bureaucratic ethos within the context of hospital struc-tures in Nigeria. The study
observed that from the colonial period, the distribution of medical care deli-very in Nigeria has favoured the urban
population at the expense of the rural settlers and that the health services in the country has tended to be placed
specifically on three pedestals of primary, secondary and tertiary health institutions for rural, mixed population and
urban elite respectively. Also, in terms of infrastructural distribution of healthcare, the rural areas (that is, the rural
majority) in Nigeria are being neglected to satisfy the urban areas, where the educated, the rich and government
functionaries reside. The paper therefore suggests the need to redistribute the provision of this infrastructure to
benefit all, irrespective of where they live.