The Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC), has called for a holistic and home-grown approach to solving the country’s health system challenges.
Mrs Chika Offor, the Chairperson of the Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC), made this known at the weekend in Abuja.
She emphasised the need for sincere and efficient implementation of existing laws and policies in addressing health challenges in Nigeria.
Offor said that the current approach of issuing executive orders and meeting with pharmaceutical industries would not effectively solve the problems in the country’s health system in the long run.
She suggested that the root causes of these problems, poor status of the Naira, insecurity, infrastructure gap, corruption and the high cost of doing business, needed to be address.
She highlighted the success of countries like Malaysia in developing strong healthcare systems and efficient medicine supply chains without relying on executive orders.
She, however, urged Prof. Mohammad Ali Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Development, to provide the right leadership in addressing these issues.
She called for a holistic, home-grown approach, citing the need for strategic interventions and proper implementation of existing laws and policies, including the National Health Act.
She called for sustained commitment and leadership at the highest level to address the root causes and improve Nigeria’s health sector.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had approved three resolutions aimed at strengthening the health and social welfare sector for better delivery to Nigerians.
The decisions are targeted at relieving the escalating cost of pharmaceuticals, funding of health sector regulatory bodies and mitigating the human resource flight in the sector.
The President’s action is guided by his Renewed Hope Agenda, which puts the human capital, health and social welfare of Nigerians at the center.
One of the decisions would be codified into an Executive Order for effective implementation, which aims to enable local drug manufacturers to thrive while ensuring fair pricing of essential medicines.
