Health Minister, CMD Task Private Sector On Provision Of Rural Healthcare Facility

Coordinating minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, and the chief medical director, Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA), Prof Robinson Onoh, have called for government and private sector participation in the provision of rural health facilities to curb the high morbidity rate in rural areas.

They made the call during the commissioning and handing-over of the Amaewula Cottage Hospital, Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki AE-FUTHA Annex by the Institute of Genomics and Global Health, IGH.

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Speaking at the commissioning, the minister of health, represented by the chief Epidemiologist of Nigeria, Dr Ganiyu Jamiu, said that the project is a government-private sector partnership, adding that the present administration is committed to partnering with the private sector to ensure quality healthcare for rural communities.

He said the present administration of President Bola Tinubu is committed to ensuring qualitative healthcare for all Nigerians, especially those at the grassroots, adding that they will continue to support the private sector in keying into the present administration’s healthcare programmes.

“We expect that other organisations and agencies should emulate this gesture of the IGH and begin to look at constructing such hospitals in our rural communities to reduce the incidences of death occasioned by lack of health facilities.

“We are calling on the community to ensure the protection of this facility. The community should own it and ensure that the equipment and other items provided here are not vandalised or looted. They should engage local security to protect and guard the facilities.

“There should also be more sensitisation for people to be aware of what we have here. This cottage hospital is going to save a lot of lives. In cases of emergency, you don’t need to visit the teaching hospital. With this facility, healthcare is already provided to the people’s doorstep.”

Enumerating some of President Tinubu’s achievements in the health sector, Dr Jamiyu noted that the ministry has succeeded in unlocking the value chain system, adding that efforts are being made to start producing some of the drugs and commodities the country imports.

“We want to start manufacturing some of the drugs and commodities we used to import into the country. That would be done in conjunction with the private sector partnership. If possible, for those commodities that cannot be produced in Nigeria, we ensure that we have a system that will relatively reduce the cost of such drugs.

“At the initial time, there was a sudden rise in the cost of drugs, but with all these interventions, the prices have started coming down,” he said.

Prof Onoh, who commended the Institute for constructing and donating the health facility to the government, urged other private sectors to contribute to the health needs of the rural communities.

“I feel fulfilled that this is happening within my time as the chief medical director of AE-FETHA, where we are expanding not just in clinical services but also in infrastructure and in things that will help us save lives.

“From what has been done here today, lives that would have been lost here because of certain sicknesses would be saved. We will send our team to this place, and they will be available to render clinical services every day. It will be done in a way that any medical care would be offered here.

“It is commendable that a private sector will just come into a rural community that does not have any hope of such a facility and establish a massive hospital. It is not just establishing a hospital but quarters attached to it, bringing in internet services and fully equipping it with state-of-the-art equipment to help offer optimal clinical care to the rural community.

“This should be learnt by all the different arms of the government. It’s not just building a house and calling it a hospital; you have to equip it, make it conducive, provide an avenue where healthcare workers can easily relax, and also provide healthcare services to the people.

“This is a model that should be adopted in this country, Nigeria, and should be stepped down to every community. There is a need for healthcare services to start going to the hinterlands. Where people who don’t have what it takes to come to the city could access healthcare, it should be us reaching the people and not the people searching for us, and that way, we can change the narrative.

“With what has been done here today, maternal mortality and parental mortality will be reduced and possibly people who would have had major morbidities would not have it,” he said.  He commended the federal and state government support, adding that with the synergy, every other gap will be filled.

In his address, Prof Christian Happi, founder and director of the Institute of Genomics and Global Health, said they were moved to bring the facility to the Amaewula community because it lacks good water, sanitation, and healthcare facilities.

“When my wife came to this community in 2012, there were challenges on the ground; they were finding it hard to find water, and the school was really bad. I was surprised that in Nigeria, there are places where you can’t get good water, sanitation, and good schools.

“When I visited here, I was shocked when they showed me where they were getting water. At that time, they were scoping water from the ground. From that moment, I started thinking of what to do.

“When you don’t have water, there are many waterborne diseases. There was no medical facility in the community. So, we decided to make an intervention that can make a lasting impact on the community.

“We first sank a borehole and demanded land for a hospital. We decided to build a hospital that is not just a hospital but a well-equipped hospital that can compete with any teaching hospital.

“We want to change the narrative of people coming from the town to the rural community to access healthcare. What we have here is state-of-the-art facilities. We have all the equipment needed to cater to the health needs of the people,” he said.