The Federal government has restated its resolve to achieve effective healthcare delivery by nurturing primary healthcare development towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the country by fostering healthy Public Private Partnership (PPP) collaboration.
Disclosing this yesterday in Abuja at a stakeholder’s meeting with key players in the health sector towards scaling up innovative solutions for efficient health care systems through participation of the private sector, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibajo, said a comprehensive National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) would ensure quality healthcare delivery in the country.
“The Federal government cannot fund healthcare from public funds alone hence the participation of the private sector is pertinent. Public Private Partnership is vital towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through primary healthcare,” he observed.
The Vice President stressed the need for a comprehensive National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to ensure quality healthcare delivery to the citizenry.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Minister of State for Health, Dr.Osagie Ehanire, said that the Federal Ministry of Health had embraced the PPP initiative to leverage on the assets, competencies, resources, network and innovation of the sector to accelerate improvement in health outcomes.
He reaffirmed that the service delivery innovation challenge was unprecedented in that it was the first time the Nigerian health sector had taken this approach to private sector engagements, stressing that Nigeria was the first Global Financing Facility (GFF) country to define a clear pathway for integrating the private sector into its Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health plus nutritional service delivery in Nigeria.
‘’The improvement of our reproductive health indices and developmental milestones to meet both national and international target is a collective responsibility, he noted’’.
Commending investors in the Global Financing Facility to improve maternal, child and adolescent healthcare delivery in Nigeria, Ehaniran urged the private sector, traditional and religious leaders as well as academia to join ranks with government in addressing challenges in service delivery to ensure t Nigeria remains on track to end preventable deaths among women, children and adolescents.
The World Bank Country Director, Rachid Benmessaaoud, represented by Senior Health Specialist, Dr.Oluwole Odutolu, said the Global financing Facility would provide a roadmap that is result based for countries to develop and monitor the implementation of the Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health, RMNCAH, platform for ending preventable deaths and improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
In his contribution, the Executive Director, Finance and Strategy, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman expressed delight to partner with the Federal Ministry of Health and other stakeholders in transforming the health sector through improvement of the RMNCAH and nutrition in Nigeria.
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