ABUJA – Some members of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) have urged the Federal Government to implement the Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) scheme in government hospitals to improve quality of health care delivery in the country.
The doctors, who are part of the ongoing nationwide strike called by NMA, spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
They said that PPP would stabilise activities in the hospitals and increase efficiency in service delivery.
One of the medical doctors, Dr Titus Ibekwe, who is the National Vice President of NMA, said that PPP would help to develop the health sector.
“In my opinion, PPP is a welcomed development; this is because it will definitely make services rendered in hospitals more efficient and effective.
“You find PPP in developed countries; the sections in the hospitals that generate money such as the laboratories and pharmacies should be run by the private sector, Then, the health sector will be developed, ’’ Ibekwe said.
On his part, Dr Jibril Abdullahi, the National President of the Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), said that PPP could work if it was implemented partially.
“It is an alternative that can work provided it is done partially, while keeping in mind the importance of the tertiary hospitals in the training of health care workers at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels,” he said.
According to Abdullahi, the government can start with the concession of laboratories, and maybe, the pharmacy unit that are not direct points of clinical consultation and procedures.
He pointed out that Nigerians needed a health care system devoid of politics. [eap_ad_1]
In his contribution, the National President of the Guild of Medical Directors (GMD), Dr Tony Phillips, said “PPP is inevitable and has to be achieved in Nigeria.
“It is important because it has been realised that hospitals cannot survive without the private sector.
“This is because the private sector is more organised, focused and result oriented, so the government must align with the private sector to achieve quality health care delivery in hospitals.’’
Phillips claimed that 60 per cent of health care delivery in Africa was provided by the private sector, adding that adopting PPP in health care administration in the country could reduce the spate of strikes in the sector.
“If the government can carry the private sector along and include them in policy making, we can help in advising the government on what to do and what not do to in the health sector.
“Doctors in the private sector are more experienced because many of them worked in the government sector before moving to the private sector, so we have a wealth of experience.’’
However, Jelili Kilani, a pharmacist, said that PPP was welcomed as long as it would ensure availability of health care services.
“If the intention of government is to outsource other professional services in the hospitals, then it will be a negative way of implementing PPP.
“ The aim of PPP should be to ensure quality health care deliver in the country,’’ Kilani, who is the Chairman, Senior Staff Association, National Hospital, Abuja, said.
Mr Olawale Ogundipe, the Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Allied Institutions, expressed support for PPP in health care delivery in the country.
Although he said that “PPP is good as long as it is in the interest of Nigerians’’, he stressed that it should not be mistaken for privatization.
“Any PPP that is not beneficial to the populace and make services unaffordable to the public will not be acceptable,’’ he, however, cautioned.[eap_ad_4]
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