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LAGOS – More than 625,000 Nigerians die every year from hypoxemia-related illnesses, with newborns, children under five and pregnant women among the worst affected, following medical oxygen access crisis which continue to threaten healthcare delivery nationwide, experts have warned.
Dr. Osahon Enabulele, immediate past President of the World Medical Association (WMA), said inadequate oxygen supplies remain a major contributor to preventable deaths despite oxygen being recognised globally as an essential medicine.
He attributed the crisis to poor hospital infrastructure, unreliable electricity, weak distribution systems, inadequate equipment maintenance and shortages of trained biomedical technicians.
According to him, oxygen concentrators and oxygen generation plants require uninterrupted electricity to function efficiently.
However, frequent power failures in many public hospitals result in repeated equipment shutdowns, reduced efficiency and, in some cases, permanent damage.
He said logistics also remain a major obstacle because bulk oxygen production is concentrated in only a few cities, including Lagos.
Hospitals in rural communities often struggle to obtain supplies because transporting heavy oxygen cylinders across long distances and poor road networks is costly and difficult.
Enabulele added that inadequate maintenance further compounds the crisis, noting that up to 80 percent of oxygen concentrators in paediatric units of some hospitals deliver sub-optimal oxygen concentrations because of equipment malfunction and shortages of onsite biomedical technicians.
He said pneumonia remains one of Nigeria’s leading causes of childhood deaths, with about 13 percent of children hospitalised for respiratory infections developing hypoxemia.
According to him, adequate oxygen access could reduce in-hospital childhood pneumonia deaths by between 35 and 50 percent.
The former WMA president also warned that pregnant women suffering complications such as postpartum haemorrhage and severe pre-eclampsia face significantly higher risks where oxygen supplies are inadequate, stressing that timely oxygen therapy remains critical during emergency obstetric care.
Describing the crisis as primarily one of distribution and infrastructure rather than production, Enabulele said Nigeria already produces more than 250 tons of bulk oxygen daily, but weaknesses in delivery systems prevent oxygen from reaching patients, particularly in underserved communities.
He urged federal and state governments to strengthen political commitment to healthcare through increased investment, support oxygen plants and hospitals with solar power systems, promote public-private partnerships to improve oxygen logistics and cylinder management, and strengthen the training of doctors and nurses in oxygen therapy.
Enabulele warned that failure to address the crisis would worsen maternal and child mortality, accelerate the migration of healthcare professionals and deepen public distrust in government hospitals.
He also called on Nigerians to demand greater accountability, better hospital infrastructure, uninterrupted electricity and reliable access to medical oxygen as a fundamental healthcare right.
Collaborating Enabulele’s views, Dr. Olayemi Dawodu, Chief Executive Officer of Cerba-Lancet Nigeria, raised fears over preventable child deaths.
Dawodu disclosed that one in eight Nigerian children with pneumonia develops life-threatening hypoxemia that increases the risk of death fivefold, urging urgent action to strengthen the country’s oxygen delivery system.
Dawodu explained that the World Health Organisation says stronger oxygen systems could prevent up to 122,000 childhood pneumonia deaths globally each year.
Dawodu said timely oxygen therapy dramatically improves survival, stressing that many of the global deaths occur in low- and middle- income countries such as Nigeria, where persistent weaknesses in oxygen access continue to endanger vulnerable patients.
She said Nigeria had made considerable progress in expanding oxygen access following the COVID-19 pandemic, but many public and private hospitals still experience intermittent or inadequate supplies despite the improvements.
According to her, the country’s oxygen challenge is no longer simply about production but reflects broader weaknesses across the health system, including infrastructure, financing, distribution, biomedical engineering and workforce capacity.
She identified unreliable electricity as one of the biggest barriers, explaining that oxygen plants, pressure swing adsorption plants, concentrators, ventilators and monitoring equipment all depend on stable power to function effectively.
Frequent power outages, dependence on diesel generators, rising fuel costs and equipment downtime continue to disrupt oxygen services, particularly in facilities serving vulnerable populations, she said.
Dawodu noted that although more tertiary hospitals now operate oxygen plants, many secondary hospitals still rely on oxygen cylinders, while numerous primary healthcare centres have neither oxygen concentrators nor piped oxygen.
She said poor logistics further compound the problem, with some hospitals transporting cylinders over long distances because of inadequate distribution systems, shortages of cylinders and delayed refilling services.
The Cerba-Lancet Nigeria chief also blamed inadequate biomedical engineering support, poor preventive maintenance, shortages of spare parts and insufficient equipment calibration for frequent oxygen equipment failures.
She added that limited availability of pulse oximeters prevents clinicians from accurately identifying patients requiring oxygen therapy, while inadequate workforce training continues to affect oxygen prescription, equipment maintenance and neonatal care.
Addressing Nigeria’s medical oxygen delivery challenges requires a holistic review of the country’s structures, operations and the entire healthcare system, former President of the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Dr. Omonwumi Bakare, said.
She attributed persistent oxygen shortages to poor transport infrastructure, erratic electricity, inadequate equipment maintenance and shortages of biomedical engineers.
Bakare warned that delayed oxygen therapy contributes to preventable deaths among children under five, newborns and women with obstetric emergencies.
She urged governments to invest in solar-powered oxygen systems, strengthen distribution networks, expand access to pulse oximeters, integrate oxygen therapy into health insurance schemes and institutionalise biomedical training, stressing that oxygen remains a life-saving medicine with no substitute.
