Coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Prof Ali Pate and the minister of state, Dr Tunji Alausa, have unveiled a four-point agenda that would ensure that the sector delivered improved healthcare to Nigerians.
At a news conference weekend in Abuja, Pate said that the ministry would improve the effectiveness of health governance in Nigeria and minimise political interference.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the media conference followed a three-day ministerial briefing, organised by the ministry on the realities in the health and social welfare sector.
The meeting was to chart a blueprint for Nigeria’s healthcare system.
According to Pate, there is a lot of potential for improvement in health care deliverables for Nigerians.
“The federal government, ministries, departments and agencies and the state governments have a lot of responsibilities to deliver health to the people.
“We will improve the quality of governance and leadership of hospitals.
“We will appraise the leadership of tertiary hospitals and the teaching hospitals. We will strengthen the regulatory capacity of our institutions like NAFDAC,” he said.
Pate, who said that the ministry would work with state governments to improve the regulatory function at the supply chain level, added that inclusion needed to be strengthened too.
He said that health could be the basis for reunifying the country because health was one issue that concerned all Nigerians.
The minister said that the second area of focus was improvement of population health outcomes so that diseases such as diphtheria, measles, vaccine preventable diseases, maternal and child health would be focused on.
He said, however, that changing the narrative depended on all Nigerians and was not dependent on the government or healthcare professionals alone.
“So how do we change that? It’s all of us collectively, families, communities, health workers, political leaders who will do that. So, we have decided that in fact, we will make maternal deaths reportable. Make it visible,” he added.
Pate added that Nigeria needed to prioritise spending for health.
