At 3rd THISDAY Health Summit, World Bank Pledges $20m to Nigeria

WINDOW 

• FG promises to build 6 trauma centres nationwide
• Osinbajo: Summit provides platform to hold states accountable for funding of primary healthcare

By Our Correspondents

The World Bank yesterday at the Third Edition of THISDAY Health Policy Dialogue in Abuja took a bold step to fast track the development of Nigeria’s health sector with a pledge to support the nation’s Basic Healthcare Provisions Fund with $20 million.

Also, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo commended THISDAY for the Health Policy Dialogue, held in collaboration with the World Bank, saying it has provided the platform to hold states accountable for the funding of primary health care services in Nigeria.

The Practice Manager, World Bank Group, Washington, Mrs. Tryna Hague, who announced the initial support of $20 million to Nigeria’s Healthcare Fund, said the development partners believed the allocation of the BHCPF was a welcomed idea, hence their willingness to support the first stage of the basic healthcare funding.

“We will be approving initial financing of $20 million to support BHCPF in Nigeria” Hague said.

According to her, Nigerians deserve healthcare facilities equipped with necessary materials like drugs, vaccines and running water.

“If there are vaccines, drugs and other services, the number of Nigerians accessing healthcare services in PHCs will increase. And this can happen if healthcare funding is brought down to rural and low levels in the country”, she added.

Osinbajo said the THISDSAY health initiative had helped in honouring high performing states.

According to him, with the initiative, more people can now hold states accountable for the funds given to them for the provision of primary health care in their various states.

He urged the state governments to make good use of funds, warning that states which fail to make judicious use of such funds will be denied access to further grants in future.

Arguing that the dialogue platform does not recognise performance on the basis of political affiliation but rather on merit, Osinbajo pointed out that the output of the initiative so far had shown that Nigeria’s healthcare was not only functional but health workers were also trained and motivated.

He added that with the policy, Nigerian children would no longer suffer from preventable diseases adding that maternal mortality will be put under control while parents will be helped to engage in effective family planning.

According to the vice president, the initiative will also help Nigeria in achieving universal health coverage which he said included the agenda to save one million lives (SOML) annually, adding that the initiative would also help the country in driving institutional process on primary healthcare.

He added that the initiative had also provided the platform to reward improvement in primary healthcare provisions and as well served as a useful platform for decision makers through the deployment of measurable indicators.

Osinbajo also noted that alignment with the private sector in the pursuit of the policy had made the policy worthwhile and result-oriented, further noting that it had been very helpful in evolving development plans to improve indices.

He disclosed that for the first time this year in Nigeria’s history, one per cent of the budget had been earmarked for the implementation of healthcare policy, noting however, that the amount is far from being sufficient to fund the basic healthcare needs of the country.

The vice-president said it is against this background that the federal government took very seriously the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which he said some states had also joined with a view to providing the needed healthcare services.

He thanked the publisher of THISDAY, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, for providing the health policy dialogue platform for the delivery of healthcare goals of the federal government and advised other media organisations to emulate THISDAY.

On his part, Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire disclosed that the federal government plans to construct six new Specialist Truama Centres, one in each of the geopolitical zones of the country to provide effective emergency healthcare services to Nigerians.

Ehanire, who disclosed this at a panel session on the state of emergency medicine in Nigeria at the Health Summit, said that the mapping of federal highways will assist in identifying and empowering emergency health service providers located across the country.

Earlier in his welcome address, Chairman/Editor-in -Chief of THISDAY/Arise Media Group, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, noted that it was time to move away from politics and support efforts that would bring about development of basic social infrastructure and poverty reduction in Nigeria.

While commending the federal government for providing the Basic Health Care Provision Fund in the 2018 budget, Obaigbena however charged government on the need for the speedy release of the funds to enable the country benefit from the counterpart funding by the World Bank.

“As we said, away from politics, it is time to support social infrastructure. It is time to begin to address the issue of poverty and to make sure we bring out a lot of Nigerians out of abject poverty.” THISDAY is supporting the federal government and the Ministry of Health in this initiative and we are supporting the Save One Million Lives initiative.

“We like to congratulate federal government for budgeting for the Basic Health Provision Funds and we would like to know from Prof. Osinbajo when he will do the first release.” The world Bank has promised that within days after release they will offer $20million”, he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of First Cardiology, Lagos, Yemi Johnson, who provided an overview of the challenges posed by the lack of coordinated approach to emergency health care administration, stressed the need for a decentralised air ambulance services in Nigeria.

She also said that with proper policy framework that helps to provide specialised healthcare centres in the country, Nigeria can become a major hub for medical tourism in the continent.

Other panelists commended THISDAY for the laudable initiative. Professor of Neuro-surgery and Vice Chancellor, Federal University Birni-Kebbi, Prof. Bb Shehu, however expressed regret at the poor level of funding of health centres handling surgery as well as shortcomings of the Air-ambulance services and suggested that ambulance services should be structured in such a way as to be able make use of local hospital facilities to attend to emergency patients.

Another panelist, the National Focal Person and Country Director of the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety and Traffic Injury Prevention, Sydney Ibeanusi said the UN’s emphasis is to reduce incidence of deaths and injury resulting from road crashes in the country by at least 50percent.

On her part, the President, Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, Mrs. Clara Omatseye, expressed optimism that the strategic partnership between the private sector, the federal and the state governments would change the narrative of healthcare services in the country.

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