Tinubu Will Return Doctors Back In Nigeria – Sen. Abdullahi
BY BOLANLE ALUKO, ABUJA – The Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, representing Niger North in the Senate, has declared that a Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency would ensure the return of medical doctors that have left the country.
Abdullahi said that all that was required to ensure accomplishing the feat is by voting massively for Tinubu, adding that once that is done, the country will witness the ‘re-japa’ (return) of health practitioners that left the country.
Abdullahi, who representing the APC presidential candidate at the Healthcare Transformation Coalition (HTC) Symposium with the theme; “Repositioning the Healthcare Sector: Creating the Pathway to an Effective Health System” on Friday in Abuja, said that with a “Jagaban Presidency”, Nigerians should expect innovative policies that will turn around the health sector.
According to him; “The APC candidates, Tinubu and Shettima, are high profile politicians with cognate experience in governance, leadership and positive results in the health sector, visible from the States they had governed.
“The vision of Tinubu and his vice candidate, Shettima, is to transform the healthcare system to be more accessible, affordable, and deliver quality services to people irrespective of class and location.
“Tinubu will provide the stability the country requires in the health sector and will put in place a system that will provide a pride of place to doctors,” he said.
Speaking in response to the need of the healthcare symposium, Abdullahi said that one of the fundamental questions being asked by participants centered on how available funds are being utilized and how well key players integrated all the support for healthcare coming from different sources.
He further said; “using technology to integrate all sources of financing will introduce transparency and accountability in the healthcare sector. If we can take care of the primary healthcare, many health situations will not aggravate to require tertiary health care”.
Abdullahi said that the APC presidential candidates will build on what the present administration is doing to further move the country forward.
Speaking in turn, Dr Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, said that the laudable initiative addressed a work in progress, underpinned by the ongoing Health Sector Reform of the current administration, with a mission to build a resilient and sustainable health system.
Ehanire said that the objective was first of all, Universal Health Coverage, that would provide geographic and financial access to healthcare for 95 percent or more residents of Nigeria and offer a basic minimum package of health services to citizens, even in remote and rural areas, without suffering financial hardship.
He said that the second was a commitment to continuous improvement of the quality of healthcare offered at all levels while the third, is the creation of a robust and sustainable health.
In her own remarks, Mrs Chika Offor, Chairperson, Health Sector Reform Coalition, said that budgeting for health was beyond allocation, stating that the next regime must ensure better implementation, utilization of funds and evaluation to achieve a vibrant sector.
Offor said that funding is a very critical part of reforming the nation’s healthcare system.
According to her, to improve the primary care system, there is a need to develop and implement systems that will enable the private sector to join the reform agenda.
She said that any major challenge bedeviling the health system is the fact that there is a trust deficit and that should be resolved to enhance the rapid reformation of the healthcare sector in the country.
Also speaking, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Bulama Garuba, highlighted that health was created at home and the hospital did the repairs, adding that the agency had five principles of primary health care – accessibility, public participation, health promotion, appropriate skills and technology and inter-sectoral cooperation.
Similarly, the host, Dr Jide Idris, who is the immediate past Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, said that HTC canvass for the APC Presidential flag bearer, Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to harmonize sustainable change in the various aspects of the Nigerian healthcare system in the country.
According to him; “We’re at a point where the 21st century style of leadership is aptly needed to drive sustainable and unconventional change in the Nigerian healthcare system in terms of policy making, implementation, and sustainability”.
