Politics
A FORMER Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has called for the implementation of various healthcare legislations and policies to improve the quality of the nation’s healthcare services.
Chukwu made the call at the 2023 Annual Conference of the Society for Quality Healthcare in Nigeria (SQHN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference had the theme: “Regulatory Oversight of Healthcare Quality in West Africa”.
He said that there are series of formulated healthcare legislations and policies in the past that had not been implemented in Nigeria.
He decried the low healthcare quality regulatory capacity in most West African countries.
According to him, the regulatory agencies on quality healthcare services must be well funded and enabled by appropriate legislation to be able to function better.
The former health minister noted that implementating health policies and legislations are key to ensuring quality of the nation’s healthcare service delivery.
“To maintain quality healthcare service that meets international standard requires not only legislations, policies and institutions, but the will for implementation and enforcement.
“Building a regulatory capacity must be deliberate, diligent and sustainable.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria enacted the National Health Act in 2014 to address standardisation and quality assurance of healthcare service.
“Section 9 provides for the establishment of a National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee while Sections 13 and 14 provides for a Certificate of Standards to be issued by or obtained from the appropriate body of government where the facility is regulated.
“To date, this committee is yet to be constituted and so those sections as they affect the tertiary health institutions are yet to be operationalised.
“Presently, medical tourism is now trending; Ghana going to India, Egypt or Singapore and vice versa.
“If, Nigeria does not improve and strengthen its health system, it will discourage medical tourism into the country,” he said.
Dr Ajibike Oyewumi, a Quality Improvement Specialist, International Finance Corporation (IFC), said there was need to review the content of the services of healthcare providers with the view to improving them through accreditation.
Oyewumi said that both private and public health facilities should be opened and submitted for accreditation, saying that accreditation remained the means to influence quality in the healthcare system.
According to her, accreditation not only creates room for improvement, but also paves the way for quality services and enhances productivity.
Oyewumi emphasised the need for quality healthcare specialists and managers to be more proactive in encouraging healthcare providers to improve the quality of their service delivery and be open for accreditation.
“Our role is to motivate, encourage and support health facilities to achieve quality in their service delivery.
“This can be better achieved through collaboration, partnership and training for the medical personnel and provision of standardised medical equipment,” Oyewumi said.
Dr Endurance Uwadiae, a Quality Improvement Specialist, called for adequate collaboration among healthcare quality regulatory bodies, the healthcare providers and the end-users – patients.
According to him, collaboration is necessary to ensure accountability and transparency in the whole process.
Earlier, Dr Wole Abiodun-Wright, President of the Society, said that SQHN was committed to ensuring improved healthcare services that meet international standard are rendered in health facilities at all levels across the country.
In his welcome address, Abiodun-Wright said that SQHN worked with health facilities to improve quality and safety of their healthcare services through education, collaboration, training and accreditation.
”We believe that if, the country drives quality seriously and sustains it, every other thing will fall in place.
“But, if the country is unable to tackle quality due to poor funding, all other challenges confronting the health sector will still be there.
“Hence, the need for adequate funding of the health facilities,” he said.
The conference featured a panel discussion in which experts in quality healthcare management identified the challenges, benefits, impacts and way forward to achieving a sustainable quality healthcare service in Nigeria. (NAN)
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September 27, 2023 @ 20:57 GMT|
Tags: Dr Ajibike Oyewumi Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu
