“The Nigerian private sector can play a decisive role in improving healthcare in the country. With a firm base now provided by entities like the Private Sector Health Alliance in Nigeria, which has Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia and several important private sector leaders, and the Health Care Federation of Nigeria, the new administration can pursue steps to unlock the market potential of the health sector through policy and regulatory measures as well as improving access to private capital. According to the former health minister, “The Nigerian health sector is more than $15 billion in size and can grow even bigger than that to be a giant in Africa, given its tremendous human and material resources. 

He said, The healthcare value chain is expansive, from generic pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, health provision and retail, financing, information technology, medical education and so forth. Therefore, growing the healthcare sector to add to economic growth will be vital for national development”.

Pate explained that the Nigerian population is an asset in the quest for rapid and sustained development but warned that the current leadership should rhyme the population growths saying “the demographic dividend is not automatic and cannot be taken for granted. If we do not harness our large population and develop its human capital, particularly for the children, women and youth, the prospect for demographic dividend can turn into a disaster”.

In order to harness the huge human capital, the Former Minister said “Nigeria will need to make faster progress in reducing newborn, infant and child mortality. We also need to drastically reduce maternal mortality, while increasing reproductive health services and rights-based family planning. We also need to rapidly increase access to quality education for literacy and numeracy among our girls and women, especially in the Northern parts of the country where the DHS data shows abysmal statistics in this regard. We should find culture-appropriate ways to empower our girls and women to participate in building the nation in a modern way. There are also significant inequities in the distribution of health and education in Nigeria as revealed by the DHS. Poor Nigerians are significantly worse off in health and education indices”.

Dr Pate as Minister of State for Health, had articulated a vision for the health sector, wherein he made strong stance for a paradigm shift in the way the health sector operates; changing the fundamental focus from inputs and processes to outcomes, and stated boldly that the metric through which the sector is to be judged should be the number of lives saved, not on construction or goods procured.

It was this that informed his bold vision to Save one million lives, and the establishment of Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria among other initiatives taken then.

Source: Leadership Nigeria News