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Healthcare Financing And Equipment Leasing In Nigeria
Written by Super User
There are multiple challenges currently facing the healthcare industry in Nigeria. Some of these include access to quality and affordable health care as well as access to finance. Access to finance has been a constant challenge with increased budgetary constraints on the government side in light of decreasing crude oil prices, which is the mainstay of Nigeria’s rent-oriented economy.
In addition to the foregoing, healthcare costs have been on the rise in recent times. The introduction of technology into healthcare provision has shortened the lifespan of medical equipment or technology so that a new technology replaces the forerunner in a matter of few years. This is also the case for other equipment and tools needed to provide healthcare. Dramatically, all these are within the context of a global economy just recovering from the Global Recession of 2008-2011 with the effects still noticeable.
As a result of the foregoing, new and innovative methods of financing beyond the traditional approaches have to be explored.
One of these innovative ways is medical equipment leasing.
The Cuban government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government of Nigeria on health technological transfer. Representing the Cuban government during the signing, theCuban Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Carlo Sosa, assured that his country has everything is takes to transform the health standard of Nigerians positively through technological transfer. While reiterating his country’s commitment to assist Nigeria by sharing their acquired health – based knowledge with Nigeria, the Ambassador said that historically, Cuba regards Nigeria as her ancestor. He went further to say that Cuban Government can not hesitate to exchange ideas with Nigerian scholars especially on research towards finding lasting solutions to some dreaded health challenges both in Nigeria and Cuba.
Ambassador Carlo expressed confidence that Cuba has, through research produced various vaccines that have sustained the country from some deadly diseases ravaging some countries in the world. This goes as far as cancer according to him. “Cancer is no longer a threat to the lives of Cubans,’’ he said. The collaboration will also be extended to boost Agricultural development in the two countries. Reacting to the development, the Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Professor A.G. Ambali, who represented the Nigerian government, said Nigeria’s choice for Cuba for the collaboration is not out of place, considering Cuba’s expertise in health and research.
The health sector can do with a lot of help. Players in the sector believe that with President Muhammadu Buhari in the saddle, facilities will soon be enough to meet the people’s health needs. OLUKOREDE YISHAU examines the challenges facing this all-important sector, which has not received any cash for capital projects this year. MINISTRY of Health Permannent Secretary of theLinus Awute has a dream. He looks forward to a day when medical tourism will become a thing of the past. The country loses millions of dollars annually as patients seek help in India, United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (U.S.). Awute believes President Muhammadu Buhari has what it takes to take the country to its medical Eldorado. The signs are beginning to show, he believes.
The statistics paint a scary picture. For a nation with a population of over 150 million, there are 38 Federal Medical Centres (FMCs) and federal teaching hospitals. There are nine federal neuropsychiatric hospitals, three orthopedic hospitals, an Ear Nose and Throat Hospital in Kaduna and a federal Eye Hospital in Zaria, Kaduna State. The inability of the Federal Government to go it alone made private organisations to partner with it to establish other eye centres in Idi-Araba, Lagos and Onitsha, Anambra State. Visits to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and other tertiary institutions around the country confirm the pictures as painted by the statistics. The facilities are just overwhelmed and those who patronise them do not get the deserved services. Ordinarily, the government should have nothing to do with primary healthcare. It should be the headache of local governments.
Recently, the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) raised objection over the dissolution of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) by President Muhammadu Buhari. According to the council, the dissolution will not only promote quackery in the health sector, it will allow cases of malpractices to continue unabated. Making a case for its reinstatement, President of NPMCN, Prof. Rasheed Arogundade argued that MDCN be exempted as was in the case of the Universities Governing Councils because such premature dissolution had caused disastrous consequences in the past. Definitely, we are in line with this plea because as a regulatory body set up by statute, the dissolution of MDCN is the same as stopping all the functions.For example, the Council’s functions include medical education, accreditation of professional institutions, maintenance of standards, enforcement of discipline and monitoring of health institutions that are training doctors all over the country among others.
We recall that the board of MDCN has been dissolved several times in the past 20 years and which is responsible for the unsavoury developments and instability in medical education, practice and discipline in the country. For the avoidance of doubt, the Medical and Dental professions are regulated by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act Cap 221, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1990 and prescribes the kind of sanction that could be imposed on a medical doctor who is found liable for misconduct. Without the council, there is no regulation for medical colleges and medical curriculums to train doctors, even as there will be no disciplinary body to sanction unethical conduct. Incidentally, dissolution of the council not only had devastating and detrimental consequences to both the professions and society, it encouraged sub-standard medical and dental schools, even as programmes were granted accreditations; thus producing incompetent practitioners.
In a move to commence full operation of the National Health Act, the Federal Ministry of Health has constituted a committee to produce a guideline for the implementation of the provisions of the Act. News of the inauguration of the committee was disclosed by the Director, Health Planning Committee, Research and Statistics of the ministry, Dr. Ngozi Azodo in a presentation to the newly established Health Journalist Academy in Lagos recently. Dr. Azodo who is the secretary of the committee told the journalist that the Act is expected to establish a framework for the regulation, development and management of a National Health System, to set standards for rendering health services in the country. The National Health Bill was signed into law by former president Good luck Jonathan on October 31, 2014 and hailed by major stakeholders in the health sector as the solution to the nation’s appalling health system.
According to the analysts the Act is set to achieve the Universal Health Coverage and meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) target. The Act also provides for the elimination of quacks from professionalism and provides basic health funds needed by Nigerians. A major highlight of the provisions of the health law is the establishment of Basic Health Care Provision Fund to be financed from Federal Government Annual Grant of not less than 1% of its Consolidated Revenue Fund and grants by international donor partners. The funds will be managed by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the Federal Ministry of Health. According to the provisions of the Act, 45% of the fund will be disbursed through each state and the FCT Primary Health Care Development Board for the provision of essential drugs, vaccines and consummates; 50% will be managed by NHIS while the remaining 5% is managed by the health ministry for the provision of basic minimum package of health facilities.
A total of 44 countries have signed Economists’ Declaration on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) – the declaration demands that every world leader increases spending on universal health coverage for their people. The economists gathered at the instance of The Rockefeller Foundation and led by Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University as global leaders prepare to enact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the next 15 years that includes universal health coverage among its targets. According to media report, those in attendance declared that investments in UHC will ensure health systems can withstand shocks from disease outbreaks like Ebola, and prevent millions of people from falling into poverty paying for the health services they need and that everyone being able to obtain high quality essential health services without suffering financial hardship is right, smart and affordable.
A total of 267 signatories signed the agreement and Nigeria’s representatives include Ayodeji Ajiboye, Shehu Rano Aliyu, Nkata Chuku, Musa Ibrahim Jega, Kenneth Ojo, Olumide Okunola, Obinna Onwujekwe, Chibuzo Opara, Afees Adebare Salisu and Francis Nwachukwu Ukwuije. Other signatories include: Nobel Laureates Joseph Stiglitz, Kenneth Arrow, Alvin Roth, Vernon Smith and Christopher Pissarides; the current and former chief economists of the World Bank, Kaushik Basu and Justin Yifu Lin; noted health economists Anne Mills and Victor Fuchs; and renowned economic thinkers Thomas Piketty, Linah Mohohlo, Bjørn Lomborg, Tony Atkinson, John Irons and Paul Collier. The signatories said they are concerned that the United Nations (UN) will adopt the Sustainable Development Goals – an ambitious new agenda set to be ratified next week – without considering what’s affordable, achievable, and most valuable.
Doctors Call For Special Children’s Hospitals As Congenital Diseases Surge
The Association of Paediatric Surgeons of Nigeria (APSON) wants government to set up hospitals that would specifically manage the care and treatment of children in Nigeria.It said that in many cases, there are congenital anomalies- diseases that children are born with- which cause them to become traumatised. APSON president, Dr James Adeniran, stated this yesterday at its scientific conference held in Abuja noting that about 40 per cent of their work has do with these anomalies such as children who don’t have anus and cannot pass stool properly. “These are special diseases and should be treated in proper paediatric centres,” he said. Also, Dr Rajesh Dey, a Consultant Liver Transplant Surgeon at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi in his speech said there is an upsurge in the number of reported paediatric liver diseases because of improved diagnostic techniques. He said: “There is upsurge in terms of number because more and more children are getting detected with liver disease.”
According to Dey, the recent increases are caused by better diagnostic equipment and more trained personnel that can identify kids who have liver disease as they used to go unnoticed and unreported in the past. “Lifestyle changes affect mostly the adults and the kids are spared from that. It is mostly caused by inborn metabolic defects, some enzymes in their system and the liver doesn’t go properly,” he noted. Dey said they are in Nigeria to seek the collaboration of Nigerian paediatricians to setup children liver transplant centres to curb the increasing cost paid by parents seeking such services abroad. “If we can build up a centre in Nigeria, the cost would go down by half, and the child would not have to travel so far in a foreign land,” he said.
Source:Ladership Online
A senior consultant cardiologist, Apollo Hospital, India, Dr. Rajeeve Kumar Rajput, has called for the establishment of more coronary health facilities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in view of the rising incidences of coronary diseases globally. Speaking to journalists yesterday in Abuja, the expert decried the low rate of cardiology hospitals, saying the ones available are not commiserate with the city population. He said: “I spoke to the doctors who came here and discovered that there are only two hospitals offering cardiology services with one centre doing it sometimes. It is not routinely available in Abuja with about 4 million populations. If it were in a developed country we’ll need to have about 12 to 15 cardiology hospitals to take care of cardiac problems.”
He, however, noted that health in all developing countries do not get as much money as it should, noting that the world’s renown health specialist state, Delhi in India, was in the same state about 10 to 15 years ago. “What we have today is a general reflection of the development of the economy. When you have better economy, better education and infrastructure, better hospitals will naturally come up. There is no country in the world which does not have good facilities and good hospitals, the two go together.” Rajput also added that a lot needs to be done to train local doctors in Abuja, saying, “The information I have is that there are only two big cardiac centres here and the two are not offering the best services; there is room for improvement.”
The Medical Director, Kleinburg Medical Centre, Lagos, Dr. Akeem Anifowoshe, has said that Nigeria needs more primary health facilities to reduce its burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases. Anifowoshe, who spoke at the inauguration of the centre and Beacon Smile Clinic in Lagos, noted that the availability of more family health physicians would also ensure early detection and treatment of diseases. According to him, a family physician is the first line of doctor that takes care of the health challenges of individuals and has their medical history that will be helpful in emergencies. He said, “In developed countries, when you are sick, you do not have to go to a big hospital. You get a greater percentage of the care you need from the family physician at the primary health care centre in your neighbourhood or some streets away from your home.
“He/ she will check blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels and look after your overall health to ensure that you do not come down with diseases. “It saddens me when I hear of people dying of colon cancer. That should not happen because it can be detected early with a simple blood test if the patient had gone for routine medical check.” The Chief Executive Officer, Beaconhill Smile Clinic, Dr. Oluwaseum Akinbobola, lamented that many Nigerians do not prioritise2 their health. He said, “Many will not go for dental check-up until they have lost a tooth or they can no longer eat. However, that is not the right attitude. “One should go for dental check up at least twice a year so that oral problems can be picked up early. “ If you do the right thing, you do not need to lose any of your tooth. But the average 70-year-old man has lost two or three teeth because they did not take oral health seriously.”
Source:Punch Online
USAID Lab Ebola Team seeks innovative solutions to strengthen interoperability of Health information Systems
The U.S. Global Development Lab’s Ebola Team of the U.S. Agency for International Development(USAID) recently called for expression of interest from organizations that have innovative solutions that can strengthen interoperability of Health Information Systems in West Africa. Find the official notice below: Strengthening Health Information Systems toward Interoperability in the West Africa Region
Dear Partner
, Exciting news – the U.S. Global Development Lab’s Ebola Team has released an addendum to the Science,Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Broad Agency Announcement. The addendum is a call for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to take part in an innovative and collaborative solution design process. The Lab Ebola Team is looking for EOIs regarding specific innovative solutions that your organization believes could strengthen interoperability of Health Information Systems (HIS) in West Africa in the wake of the Ebola outbreak. Our main objective is to co-create, co-design, co-invest and collaborate with innovators on forward-thinking solutions that demonstrate the highest potential to significantly improve recovery and development impacts. Of particular interest are opportunities that complement USAID’s strategic focus on science, technology and innovative partnerships.
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Pharmacists Urge Buhari To Reconstitute Council, Fight Fake Drug Syndrome
PHARMACISTS under the aegis of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) have called on President Mohammadu Buhari to reconstitute the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), which was recently dissolved alongside the boards of other parastatals even as they decried the unsatisfactory and inadequate access to essential drugs and other healthcare commodities in Nigeria. President PSN, Mr. Olumide Akintayo, at a press conference, yesterday, to mark the 2015 World Pharmacy Day said the pharmacy practice environment has gotten to a most wretched level, which logically cannot afford another vacuum in terms of regulatory control. The theme of the 2015 World Pharmacy Day is “Pharmacists: Your Partner in Health.”
Scientists say they are a step closer to growing fully functioning replacement kidneys, after promising results in animals. When transplanted into pigs and rats, the kidneys worked, passing urine just like natural ones. Getting the urine out has been a problem for earlier prototypes, causing them to balloon under the pressure. The Japanese team got round this by growing extra plumbing for the kidney to stop the backlog. Although still years away from human trials, the research helps guide the way towards the end goal of making organs for people, say experts. In the UK, more than 6,000 people are waiting for a kidney – but because of a shortage of donors, fewer than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year.
More than 350 people die a year, almost one a day, waiting for a transplant. Growing new kidneys using human stem cells could solve this problem. Dr. Takashi Yokoo and colleagues at the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo used a stem cell method, but instead of just growing a kidney for the host animal, they set about growing a drainage tube too, along with a bladder to collect and store the urine. They used rats as the incubators for the growing embryonic tissue. When they connected up the new kidney and its plumbing to the animal’s existing bladder, the system worked. Urine passed from the transplanted kidney into the transplanted bladder and then into the rat bladder. And the transplant was still working well when they checked again eight weeks later. They then repeated the procedure on a much larger mammal – a pig – and achieved the same results.
The Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals has urged the Federal Government to disregard any call for the privatisation of public hospitals in the country. The National President of the union, Dr. Obinna Ogbonna, who addressed newsmen at the University College Hospital, Ibadan on Wednesday, said the move would increase the cost of health care delivery beyond what the masses could afford. He also accused the Nigeria Medical Association of championing the call for privatisation of public hospitals. Ogbonna said, “Members of the union vehemently condemn the move by the government to privatise some hospitals in Nigeria as being canvassed by medical practitioners. Health care delivery is a social service that an average Nigerian should enjoy as subsidised by the government. By the time this social service is privatised, an average Nigerian will not be able to access and afford health care services.
“It is alarming to note that some state governments have started the concession of some general hospitals to private investors, leading to loss of jobs and high cost of health care services. The union frowns on this development and calls on such states to rescind the action in the interest of peace and that of the masses.” The union also called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to appoint a member of the NMA as the health minister, saying past members of the association who had served as health ministers destabilised the sector. “Since 1985 when the late Dr. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti was appointed as health minister to the past minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, the Federal Ministry of Health has been bedevilled with a series of industrial crisis due to poor administrative performance by the ministers.
The registrar, Health Record Officers Registration Board of Nigeria (HRORBN), Alhaji Mohammed Mami, has criticised Nigeria’s data gathering system, saying that the data generated cannot be used for any international comparison. He said that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), an organ of government recognised to give information on all aspects of the nation’s economy, health, education among others, only comes out with cumulated data which are not up to international standard. In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP in Abuja, Mami maintained that most of the health data generated in the country are inaccurate as they are conducted by personnel who have no experience in the field.
“These are people whose training does not involve the management and reporting of these data and they cannot give it a professional touch. They will not be able to carry these data from the local government level up to the state level and up to the Federal Ministry of Health where these data would be collated and become a national database,” he said. According to the registrar, the health record officers who are trained personnel that are supposed to carry out the task are not fully involved at the primary collation centres where nurses, environmental health officers, community health workers hold sway. He said, “Out of the 34,000 health facilities in the country, you probably don’t have any facility that is using this data collation form designed by the Federal Ministry of Health because the primary officers that are supposed to be involved in the keeping of these data are not initially involved.”
