The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu has said that Nigerians go for treatment abroad due to lack of standard medical facilities in the country.
Chukwu spoke on the “Investment opportunities in the Nigerian health sector” at a breakfast seminar organised by the Institute of Directors on Thursday in Lagos.
He encouraged business men to invest in the tertiary health care services, saying that through private public partnership arrangement, government intended to transform some centres.
He said, “There has been a phenomenal increase in medical tourism by Nigerians, which is hinged on a number of factors like the lack of appropriate and modern facilities in our tertiary centres, inadequate human capacity development that matches the modern technological advancement, incessant work disruption occasioned by workers’ strikes, lack of information on facilities and services available in the country, the propensity to patronise foreign goods and services, as well as unethical commercialisation of referral system.”
He disclosed that the Federal Government had embarked on a rescue mission of upgrading tertiary health care services to meet international standards.
He said, “We have started the upgrading of tertiary health centres to world class standard. Presently, there are 10 of these centres that have been upgraded, while two more are nearing completion. Health care professionals will also be assisted through soft loans to establish private specialty hospitals that will bridge the gap left by public health facility shortfalls.”
According to him, there is an ongoing curriculum review to update training needs for all cadres of health care personnel.
In his response, the President, Institute of Directors, Mr. Thomas Awagu, lamented that many of the pharmaceutical companies and health care providers in the country could not compete internationally due to low investment.
Awagu said, “Despite the seeming huge growth potentials within the Nigerian health sector, investment is quite low in that sector.”
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
0 comments:
Post a Comment