THISDAY Set to Hold 3rd Healthcare Policy Dialogue, to Focus
on States, Emergency Medicine
June 22, 2018 4:56 am
By Martins Ifijeh
Adewole: Summit will strengthen health
services in Nigeria
Following the success recorded at the two policy dialogues
held by THISDAY on Healthcare Financing and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in
March and April 2018 respectively, the newspaper is set to hold a broader
edition, with a focus on two areas: High Performing States in Healthcare, and
Emergency Medicine in Nigeria.
The Summit, themed: ‘‘Funding Healthcare for All, Why States
Matter’’ and ‘’Emergency Medicine: Need for Action,” will hold July 5,
2018 at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja by 10am.
The two previous editions focused on the chronic
underfunding of Nigeria’s health sector, yielding a number of successes,
including for the first time, the earmarking of N57.15 billion in the 2018
national budget for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) by the
National Assembly.
This third edition will bring to the fore roles of states in
achieving UHC, identify high performing states and showcase the importance of
emergency medicine in tackling primary and secondary healthcare issues in Nigeria.
The Save One Million Lives (SOML) Programme performance
index will be one of the tools in measuring high performance states.
The SOML is an establishment of the federal government which
aims to support states in the improvement of health outcomes in their various
states. Under the programme, the federal government, in 2017, gave $1.5 million
to each of the 36 states.
According to THISDAY Board of Directors, it will use a set
of verifiable and objective indicators provided by the newspapers Healthcare
Dialogue Team and the SOML initiative programme to determine star states in the
six geo political zones.
The board said the poor health outcomes recorded in Nigeria,
are chiefly because priority has not been given to the basic healthcare needs
of Nigerians, adding that for any country to effectively achieve UHC, all
levels of government must be involved.
The Board said: “States and local governments are very
critical to achieving UHC, but only few states have charged ahead with
increased budgetary allocation of financing to primary healthcare and expansion
of coverage of essential priority interventions. Most states in Nigeria are yet
to put in place the required accountability and governance framework required
to change the tide for improved health outcomes. However, some states have
differentiated themselves and are making efforts towards a better healthcare.”
The board also said with an effective emergency medicine in
Nigeria, accident prevention will be strengthened; pre-hospital transport care
will be addressed, while hospital stabilisation and treatment will be more
effective.
THISDAY said it was for these reasons it is holding the high
powered summit in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, World Bank,
and a host of development partners.
The summit will bring together the presidency, members of
the federal executive council, governors, commissioners for health, national and
state primary healthcare development agencies, high level dignitaries from the
public and private sector, stakeholders and members of the public.
Sharing his thoughts on the Summit, the Minister of Health,
Prof. Isaac Adewole, who described THISDAY as a star in repositioning
healthcare in Nigeria following its interest for a better healthcare, said the
dialogue will help emphasise the role of states as primary healthcare
providers.
He said while the federal government has given a fixed grant
of $1.5 million to each state under the SOML last year, he believed this event
will provide a platform for accessing what has been done with the fund, and
help in comparing states for a healthy competition.
“We intend to give the states more money for healthcare interventions,
but accessing what they have done with the one already given is important.
States are very key to addressing healthcare in the country, but many states
have been relaxed, thinking the federal will take care of their problems.
“I think the issue started when there was so much ‘money’
around. At that time, the federal government created an impression that they
could do it alone, so states relaxed thinking the federal will take care of the
problem. But to me, it does not represent the reality on ground.
Federal does not have the human and financial resources, so it is time states
play active role. The people in the states are primarily indigenes
of that state before they are indigenes of Nigeria,” the minister said.
He said this era of cooperation will help in strengthening
healthcare, and will make states viable partners in healthcare delivery in the
country.
The minister, who likened the federal government to the roof
of a house, said the states are like the walls of a building, while the local
government is the foundation.
“So we will be deceiving ourselves if we put a golden roof
up without good foundation and good walls. We must strengthen all levels of
healthcare, and this dialogue is a step in the right direction to achieving
that,” he said.’’
Africa Center for
Clin Gov Research & Patient Safety
@ HRI West Africa Group - HRI WA
Consultants in Clinical Governance Implementation
Publisher: Health and Medical Journals
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Cross River State, Nigeria
Phone No. +234 (0) 8063600642
Joseph Ana has a cumulative continuous practice experience of over 40-years in
Nigeria, United Kingdom and Ghana as a Primary Health Care Physician, Public
Health Expert, General and Urological Surgeon, Health Policy Expert and
Implementer, Medical Educator and Trainer..
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