By Pam Moses

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged participants of the Senior Executive Course No 41, 2019 at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) to generate new and useable policy for improve funding of healthcare sector so as to guarantee health security for Nigerian citizens.

The President also said such policies should be such that engendered improved, accessible and affordable healthcare facilities for Nigerians citizens irrespective of location of the citizens in the country.

President Buhari gave the challenges in his remarks during the inauguration of the participants of the SEC No 41, 2019 at the National Institute, Kuru, Jos, Plateau state.

President Buhari who was represented at the inauguration ceremony by the governor of Plateau state Simon Lalong said, “When in 2018 I approved the theme of your study which is “Funding Universal Healthcare Delivery in Nigeria”, the decision was borne out of the sincere desire of my administration to tackle the challenges of health sector funding in Nigeria.

“Over the years, successive governments including this administration have done much to address these challenges.

“At the return to democracy in 1999, the federal government by Act, Cap N42, LFN, 2004 established the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with the aim of providing easy access to healthcare for all Nigerians at affordable cost through various prepayment systems.

“In 2014, government enacted the National Health Act that made provisions to guarantee the funding, partnership, regulations, administration, monitoring and evaluation of the health sector including NHIS

“This administration has built upon these efforts. As you are aware, one of the cardinal objectives of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which is a fundamental policy thrust of this administration is investing in the Nigerian people. Pursuant to this objective, I had in January 2019 flagged off the Primary Healthcare Revitalization Program with the aim of having 10,000 functional Primary healthcare facilities with at least one functional healthcare facility in every political ward across the country.

“This program is expected to focus on more on the rural areas with particular attention given to vulnerable population such as women, children under five years of age and the elderly in collaboration with international development partners. The essence of this program is to ensure that quality basic healthcare services are delivered to the majority of Nigerians across the country irrespective of their location.

“Early in 2018, government provided N55.1 billion, which is the 1% Consolidated Revenue Fund to cater for the basic healthcare fund, provided for in the National Health Act. It is worthy to note that this fund was appropriated for the first time in the 2018 budget since the National Health Act was signed in 2014.

“Furthermore, Government has also launched the 2nd National Strategic Health Development Plan, 2008 – 2022. Approved in September 2018, the plan is health sector plan for achieving universal health coverage in Nigeria. This has seen the disbursement of funds to high performing states under the save one million lives program.

“Let me note at this point this international development partner, namely the world bank, bill and Melina gate foundation and USAID are also contributing to this fund. Already the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation has contributed USD2 million out of which USD1.5 million has been released.

“Evidently, therefore, government has shown strong commitment in the revitalization of the health sector. These efforts notwithstanding, our health sector is still characterized by low response to public health emergencies, inability to combat outbreak of deadly diseases and mass migration of medical personnel out of the country.

“This has resulted in increasing medical tourism by Nigerians in which nigerian loses over N400 billion on annual basis. Thus, I considered the theme for 2019 course very apt, timely and important because the primary purpose of governance, as enshrined in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigerian, is to ensure the security well-being of the citizens including health security.

“As expected, effective and efficient health sector results in high life expectancy and efficient and productive workforce, which are important in the building of a vibrant national economy. Government has high expectations of the nominees of Senior Executive Course No. 41, 2019 given the critical role of the health sector in our national economy. It is expected that you will research carefully into this theme in order to proper policy options that will enable government improve health sector funding.

“Specifically, Government expects that at the end of the course, you will provide solutions to such issues as the existing gaps in the institutional, legal and policy framework for funding universal healthcare delivery and how the how the framework can be Strengthened. You should also examined the experiences of other countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americans in funding universal healthcare delivery and lessons Nigeria could learn from such experiences. As you progress in your research, you may notice additional issues which will need to be interrogated in other to address and add value to the theme of the course.

“I am aware that one of the mandates of the National Institute is to proffer recommendations on critical national issues to government in a usable form. Hence as you launch into the course, and throughout your interaction with experts of this issues, your focus should be on making useable recommendations and policy options. I urge you to take advantage of the various aspects of the course such as lectures, interactions with experts, local and international study tours in other To appreciate the best practices and propose solutions that are practical and actionable”

Earlier in a welcome address, acting Director General of the National Institute, Jonathan Juma said, “The quality of care in health facilities and the financial capacity to support treatment are great challenges of the sector.

“We therefore commend the foresight of government in approving this theme which is an indication of its desire to proactively explore a wide range of policy options for provision of affordable healthcare delivery for all citizens”

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President Buhari advocates improved policy on public health