Health centres
FG reconstructs thousands of health centres. On Thursday, the National Economic Council authorized plans to renovate 17,000 basic and 774 secondary healthcare facilities around the country.
It said the move was in response to identified funding gaps and deteriorating healthcare metrics, as revealed by a presentation by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, to the council.
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, detailed the government’s strategy to State House Correspondents following the 137th National Economic Council meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Governor Mohammed expressed his thoughts on Pate’s presentation, which highlighted the critical state of the health sector, saying, “The presentation…dissected in terms of very robust sector scan on health, from the tertiary to the primary level, looking at all the gaps, problems, and challenges of funding.”
He bemoaned the grim figures demonstrating a drop in health indicators, especially newborn mortality rates, and stated that the Tinubu-led administration seeks to build consensus among stakeholders for substantial, long-term reforms.
As a result, he said that the scope of the program’s renewal intended to “service 17,000 primary health centers to be put on a viability threshold, 774 secondary facilities, that is hospitals, as well as some tertiary institutions.”
This comprehensive approach is intended to “bring healthcare closer to the majority of Nigerians,” according to Mohammed.
Governor Mohammed disclosed that “suggestions were made…that we could use some taxes from communication, airlines, and our taxes from the state government” to bridge the budgetary gaps afflicting the healthcare system.
He emphasized the severe scarcity of healthcare professionals as well as the “huge problem of human capital and attrition of experts,” emphasizing the importance of adopting ways to retain local talent.
“Certainly, we have a huge problem of human capital and attrition of experts, and we need to develop a strategy to retain our experts to care for our health sector,” said the Governor.
“So the presentation is a robust compact that looked at all the problems and challenges of the health sector, from financing, the human capital, from the supervisory point of view, and even on the leadership level, from the presidency to the local governments and the need for us as governors, local government even media, to put interest in the health sector.”
According to Governor Mohammed, the council’s resolution includes an upcoming compact agreement with the World Health Organization on December 15, 2023, where “All the governors will come and sign a compact agreement in terms of service compact.”
This, he argued, underscores the collective commitment to budgeting for and prioritising healthcare.
Mohammed said while a democratic system like Nigeria’s cannot forcefully stop the outflux of healthcare professionals to other countries in search of greener pastures, plans are underway to manage the brain drain.
“So he (Pate) is working to ensure that he opens up so that we can produce more and people will go out and send money back.”
“I believe we should consider our comparative advantage in the development of human capital in the health sector and proceed aggressively in accordance with this administration’s vision, training more doctors and having a clearer understanding that these doctors are ours and that we will receive something in return when they leave.”
“However, we must do something to retain our doctors who are trained to treat our people.” And that will necessitate some patriotism.”