Collaboration among health workers will strengthen healthcare delivery ―Ex-minister

Professor Eyitayo Lambo, a former minister of health, has called on all professionals of the Nigerian healthcare system to consider collaboration, in lieu of professional rivalries, as a healthier practice.

He made this disclosure in the light of a multitude of consequences ascribed to the “unending rivalries” among healthcare professionals which include “strike actions, migration of health workers, poor health workers’ attitude, production of many cadres of HRH not related to need, poor quality of service, loss of confidence in the health sector, medical tourism” among others.

Speaking in a symposium organised by the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria at the Main Auditorium of the University of Lagos, the former minister of health gave statistical analysis of the status of the Nigerian health sector and why healthcare workers must quit what he described as “beauty contest” to effectively confront the challenges bedevilling the sector.

Analysing the nemesis in the Nigerian health system, he said, “Nigeria spends less than 20% of Total Health Expenditure (THE) on pharmaceuticals, a figure lower than both for Sub-Saharan Africa and low-income countries.”

“The country is heavily dependent on importation of pharmaceutical products in spite of the existing local capacity.”

“Government expenditures on health is very low as out-of-pocket expenditures (OOPE) remain the single largest source of health financing in Nigeria – over 60%.”

He also said factors such as “Poor maintenance culture, irregular power supply, unsteady power voltage affecting durability of available equipment and the running cost, total reliance on external supply of vaccines/inadequate supply of important vaccines, fraud, pilfering and corruption” were among the indices troubling the healthcare system.

While admitting that “Nigerian health system is very weak,” he said that “Nigeria has one of the largest supplies of Human resources for Health (HRH) in Africa”, most of whom have migrated to other lands.

He said, “Demands on the health care system are increasing, and health care organizations are feeling pressured to provide more timely services while at the same time working with limited human and financial resources.

“There is an urgent need to strengthen national health systems and improve health outcomes in most developing countries (including Nigeria). Inter-professional collaboration (or collaborative health care practice) has been identified as a promising means of achieving the dual objectives of strengthening the health systems and improving health outcomes.

“There are urgent crises such as epidemics of HIV/ AIDS and /or TB, spiralling health care costs, national disasters, ageing populations and other global issues   for which many are recognizing that a strong , flexible and collaborative health workforce is one of the best ways to confront these highly complex health challenges.

“Clinical care has become more complex and specialized; with increased specialization, no one health provider can meet all the complex needs of a patient and his/her family”.

Recognising the importance of collaboration among health workers, the past-president, Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Engr. Vincent Maduka, who also spoke in his capacity as chairman of the symposium suggested ways to ensure it is instituted.

Speaking he said, “I would like to suggest two approaches to this subject of inter-professional collaboration. The first would be to increase incentives as it’s done in the United States – nurses, doctors, pharmacists are very well paid. These incentives might be in monetary terms or in terms of sheer regard and respect for people.

“With an increase, I think that all stakeholders in the sector would feel proud of themselves.  Secondly, we should also look at sanctions for failure. If every death, every error in healthcare are visited with investigation, and possible sanctions are meted out, there would be a good deal more esprit d corp among the various healthcare professionals”.