A former Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Professor Akin Osibogun, has said advancing the health of Nigerians in the 21st Century will require inter-sectoral collaboration to address the social determinants of health and ensure a resilient and sustainable health system.
Osibogun, who spoke at the Medical Guild Lagos 2023 Scientific Conference on Optimising Health Services for Nigerians in the 21st Century, declared that without addressing the issues of availability, accessibility, quality and relevance, Nigeria will fail to advance the health of its citizens.
Professor Osibogun stated that the inconsistency in adopting medical technology like open heart surgery, kidney transplants and stem cell transplantation to cure sickle cell disease and make life better for citizen patients is only testimony of Nigeria’s un-seriousness as a nation.
The don declared that the main challenge to the delivery of quality health services in Nigeria remains the level of financing and the inefficient use of resources, saying total health expenditure per capita in Nigeria is a meagre $97 compared to roughly $4,000 in Europe and $8,500 in the United States.
“The main responsibility of government is to ensure the availability of health services. That availability can be promoted through public or private means.
“From our national experience, government bureaucracy and inefficiencies make quality delivery of services often difficult. The future of quality delivery of services is largely in private provision and government regulation of services.
“Financing availability will require investments in health infrastructure, equipment, pharmaceuticals and consumables, as well as the pre-service and in-service development of human capital. Availability addresses the supply side of the problem.
“An integrated health service for Nigerians will incorporate tested elements of traditional medicine with orthodox medicine; it will ensure a firm handshake between all levels of the healthcare system; it will recognise and appreciate the complementary role of both the public and private health sectors.
“Let us strengthen the private sector through access to single-digit loans, tax holidays, and similar policy tools; let us improve on our investments in the development and retention of human capital for health; let us guarantee effective demand for health through a mandatory health insurance agenda; and we will see the cycle turn in favour of improved health for Nigerians.”
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