Ex-minister calls for political will to improve healthcare system

A Former Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange, on Monday, called for the political will and commitment toward improvement of healthcare delivery system of the country.

Grange made the call at the 11th Annual Virtual Conference of the Society for Quality in Healthcare in Nigeria (SQHN) in Lagos with the theme: “The Future of Healthcare in Nigeria”.

The 2021 SQHN Conference aimed to highlight existing challenges within the health sector and proffer useful solutions for improvement.

The Ex-minister emphasised the need for prioritisation of the healthcare system by the healthcare policy makers, saying that serious attention be given to the healthcare system.

She said it had became necessary the government to increase its allocation, investments and funding on health sector in view of the huge treatment gap and lapses in the sector as exposed by the outbreak of COVID-19.

According to her, the government need to display its commitment by enacting and enforcing policies that would enhance healthcare service delivery in the Nigeria.

“The budgetary allocation to major sectors like health and education needs to be reviewed upward.

“No nation can survive without adequate funding of its education and health sector and as the wise saying goes; health is wealth,” she said.

Prof. Joseph Ana, Lead Senior Fellow, African Centre for Clinical Research and Patient Safety, gave a detailed presentation which highlighted the need for focusing on the patient’s safety, supporting the healthcare workers and elevation of healthcare system.

Ana, also the Keynote Speaker at the conference, said that the lack of basic necessities such as water, electricity and equipment in health facilities were negatively impacting on patient safety.

He called for national implementation of the 12 Pillars of Clinical Governance which promotes patient and family involvement in care, clinical audits, systematic quality programs and accreditation among others as solutions to address national healthcare problems.

He recommended visionary leadership, patient-centered care, a motivated workforce among others for organisations willing to start off quality improvement.

He emphasized the importance of measurement using data and key performance indicators to drive improvement.

“Scaling quality improvement and clinical governance efforts would require impacting cultural rules, laws and policies as well as replication of knowledge among the key stakeholders.

“Digital health approaches such as telemedicine, use of electronic medical records, inventory management systems are vital for quality improvement but the focus must always be on the needs of the patients and how they will benefit,” he said.

Earlier, the President of SQHN, Dr Wole Abiodun-Wright, in his opening remarks, spoke about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country and globally.

Abiodun-Wright said that the Society was able to adapt by converting most of her programs and services from physical to virtual mode of delivery.

He further highlighted the effort that the Society has put in to develop health facility standards which were approved by the International Society for Quality in Healthcare in 2020.