Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo said on Monday that the ultimate objective of reforms in the country’s healthcare system should be the provision of free or affordable and good healthcare for the people.
Prof. Osinbajo stated this at the opening of a two-day Presidential Health Reform Committee Retreat, holding at the Muhammadu Buhari Conference Centre at the Nigerian Intelligence Agency Complex, Abuja.
Calling for clarity in the vision and objectives of reforms in the country’s health sector, the Vice President insisted that the target of most societies in their reform of the health sector is to provide citizens with either free or affordable and good healthcare system.
He pointed out that universal health coverage remains the key objective of the reform process.
According to Prof. Osinbajo, the Nigerian government has made some significant efforts to lay some important building blocks for reforms in the healthcare sector.
These include the signing of the bill establishing the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in 2018 and the signing into law the National Health Insurance Authority Act 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said all of these events and others were points of progress which must now coalesce into one central programme.
The Vice President said the overarching principle of the process of Nigeria’s health reform has been inclusivity.
He said this was reflected in the membership of Presidential Health Reform Committee, which includes representation from the states, professional healthcare bodies, private sector and distinguished medical academics.
He explained why he approved the co-option of additional ministries, department and agencies and other stakeholders in the Presidential Health Reform Committee.
He urged participants at the two-day retreat to use the opportunity to define a trajectory for the future of proposed recommendations for reform and expressed hoped that a draft document should be ready by January 2023.
He said the participants should set the broad parameters and vision for the health care system desired for the people and to adopt a flexible approach, that enables government to track and incorporate other reform initiatives.
In his remarks, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire emphasized the need to prioritize health as a country and agree on how to raise funds to reach 95% of the country’s population with standard minimum package of health services.
Three papers were presented at the opening of the event by the Director, Department of Health Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr. Ngozi Azodoh; Coordinating Officer, Presidential Health Reform Committee; Dr. Assad Hassan and a Research Consultant, Development, Research and Projects Centre, Dr. Michael Turnwait.
In his presentation, Turnwait called for institutional reforms that would ensure that the federal government takes care of tertiary health facilities, while the states and councils handle secondary and primary health facilities respectively.
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