As general, private medical practitioners converge on Abuja on healthcare intervention
Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani and the President, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba, Thursday, canvassed improvement in the nation’s healthcare delivery.
Regretting that the poor healthcare delivery system was largely responsible for the growing rate of medical tourism coupled with mass movement of Nigerian trained medical practitioners to foreign land, they appealed for urgent positive contributions of both authorities and well-meaning Nigerians to end the trend.
The duo spoke at the One-Day Round Table Dialogue on Private Sector Intervention in Health Care in Nigeria, organised by the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, AGPMPN, held in Abuja.
Nnamani, who was the chairman of the one-day event, lauded the efforts of private medical practitioners in the country in the health sector, noting that their interventions have helped tremendously in human existence.
Noting that no matter the money in the treasury of government, no government all over the world has ever taken the whole responsibility of full healthcare delivery to its citizens, he charged private medical practitioners to continue in what they were doing.
“Regardless of the amount of money we might have in our treasury, the federal government cannot deliver all necessary healthcare issues to Nigerians, therefore, the roles of the private medical practitioners become important,” he said.
He, however, said: “Therefore, the private medical practitioners deserve assistance from all well-meaning Nigerians.”
He called on government to provide what he called “conducive environment for the private medical practitioners to carry out their services to the citizens of the country.
On his part, President, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba, blamed authorities for neglecting the health sector in the country.
He applauded the organisation for coming up with Private Sector Healthcare Intervention Trust Fund, which was launched at the occasion, saying the initiative “would address the challenges in our health system.”
In his welcome address, President, Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, AGPMPN, Amb. Dr Iyke Odo, explained that the event was intended to recap the ugly experience of the nation’s healthcare system.
“He said: “We are witnesses to the poor state of our healthcare delivery system that, with all modesty, has eroded the very fabrics of its foundation and left it suppressed and incapacitated. We are witnesses to the progressive obliteration of the lines of distinction between the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of care in the healthcare system that has totally collapsed the traditional referral principle that is the ideology behind the step ladder approach to global best practice.
We are witnesses to the body of healthcare professionals torn apart by a war of misplaced ego prosecuted at the cost of the lives of innocent Nigerians and at the expense of the health and well-being of the health professions. We have also witnessed incessant industrial actions by medical and healthcare workers.”
According to him, “We have seen very poor funding of the health system, the poor infrastructure, poor conditions of service for medical and healthcare personnel in both private and public settings. We have continued to watch helplessly as Nigerians engage in a mass exodus to other countries for medical treatment that has been estimated to cost us as much as $1Billion per annum.”
“As though prompted by the same malady, doctors and other healthcare workers have continued to leave the country in drones. The home environment has been left near desolate. So serious is this situation that it remains the greatest threat to our healthcare system. The tension is at breaking point but seems not observed or noticed from the comfort zone of the PRIVILEGED, especially, our leadership.
“We have witnessed our health insurance scheme grandstand through the years and failing in its envisaged obligations to the Nigerian people. We have seen a neglected private sector of our healthcare delivery system that has left it a solo struggle and offers no promise beyond the catastrophe that we face in socio-economic scarcity, limitations, minimal performance and hopelessness.
“We have witnessed a general decline in capacity and infrastructure and the yawning gap in our local preparedness that has taken away the sprint of competitiveness from us in the community of healthcare nations. We have witnessed the Nigerian healthcare system that was ranked amongst the top three in Africa and the destination choice of the Saudi Arabian Monarch and his family in the 80s deplete to an amorphous caricature of its old form today.
“The analysis is serially inexhaustible. It is for these and other threats to our healthcare system that we have invited you to this town hall assembly of the Nigerian people, the private sector operators to share your experience and forge a path out of the woods for our healthcare delivery system. The private sector of is the highest consumer as well as the largest providers of healthcare in Nigeria.
“This strongly underscores the need for this dialogue. One of the cardinal objectives for this dialogue is to spotlight the place of the private health sector in the healthcare delivery architecture and chemistry. They are the inevitable partners of government and should be seen in the light of the huge gap they fill in the system rather than be perceived by government as competitors or treated with disdain,” he added.
Dr Odo, speaking further, said: “They need to be supported and encouraged to optimize their immense potentials for the system.”
“The private sector has demonstrated that it is the present strength of our health system. The future of healthcare in Nigeria is the private sector. The best in our country today is in the private sector despite the near lack of support. All it needs is the enabling environment.
“May I inform Nigerians and the international community that the health sector of Nigeria with over 200 million people and a potentially viable economy and deep natural endowments, is a huge investment location.
“I therefore call on our businessmen and women, local and international investors to invest in the health sector and invest in the private doctors,” he said.
He explained that the Association of General And Private Medical Practitioners of Nigerian, (AGPMPN) the host of the event was the umbrella body of Nigerian private doctors, adding: “We are the largest providers of healthcare in Nigeria, the biggest partners of government at the states and federal levels.”
” We are the providers of over 70% of the healthcare needs of Nigerians and we have the widest spread and reach to the people.
“Our association is 100 years this year having been founded in 1921. As part of marking the great milestone of a centenary, we have decided to partner with stakeholders and Nigerians to rise to support the efforts of our government to improve the nation’s healthcare delivery. We desire this especially to support maternal and child care and temper their very high mortality rates that have become a moral national burden.
“We want to build capacity across the largely ill-equipped care givers in our rural communities, improve the quality of care to our pregnant mothers, save their lives and save the lives of their children. We project to save one million Nigerian women and children over the next five years. This is the Save ONE Million Nigeria Mothers Initiative,” he said.
He spoke further: In like manner, we desire also to grow awareness, understanding, acceptance and support for health insurance by the Nigerian people as a means for actualizing Universal Health Coverage by 2030.
“This is our AGPMPN Awake Nigeria Project 2030. It is a nationwide media publicity engagement to educate 100 million Nigerians in five years.
“This is why we have reached out to you and are still reaching out to charitable Nigerians and residents and organizations, patrons of healthcare, friends at home and abroad, to donate to the Private Sector Healthcare Intervention Trust Fund, the reason for the launching of today.”
He appealed to Nigerians to identify with “this great cause”, describing it as a Nigerian project to save Nigeria.
” It is our wish that at the end of this exercise, a private sector perspective on the question of our healthcare delivery system will be articulated in a communiqué. Such an action blueprint will be activated through integrated advocacy to influence the policy thrust in the health system,” he said.
