Medical doctor advocates PPP in funding, managing healthcare sector

The Medical Director of Garki Hospital, Abuja, Dr Adam Onu, has said that coronavirus pandemic exposed the inadequacies in Nigeria’s healthcare policy.

Consequently, he urges stakeholders to embrace the public-private partnership model in funding and managing the sector.

In an interview recently, he expressed joy that vaccination for COVID-19 has started on a successful note even as he hailed the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 for doing a very good job in evolving a robust and workable national response strategy.

“The PTF on COVID-19, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, has done remarkably well in managing the pandemic going by the rate of infection, fatality ratio and the rapid deployment of new infectious diseases laboratories across the country,” said Dr Onu, while reviewing the collaboration between public and private hospitals in managing the coronavirus pandemic.

He noted that while the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed the huge gaps in the healthcare sector, replicating the template between NISA Premier and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration would provide needed improvements.

Dr Onu stated that : “Nigeria’s healthcare sector is not as strong as it should be and the COVID-19 crises that came about is basically what I will call a stress test for the Nigerian health sector and in that regard, we have not done as well as we ought to have done. But based on my experience here in Garki Hospital, I can confidently say that the PPP model is a very good way to improve the healthcare sector so that when pandemics like this arrive, the capacity is there to be able to curb or handle such and take care of it.

“The PPP between NISA Premier and Garki Hospital, being the first of its kind in Nigerian health sector, has successfully passed this test. Since its inception in 2007 till date, the hospital has not shut down for a single day either due to strike action or any other reason and we have not sacked any staff ever since,” Dr. Onu elaborated.

Dr. Onu added that all patients, including those infected with COVID-19 were treated in line with the hospital’s policy of offering affordable treatment, also stated that: “It is therefore clearly evident that the public-private partnership model of which NISA, Garki Hospital, Abuja, is the exemplar provides a clear pathway to upgrading and extending the Nigeria healthcare sector to world best standards, especially at this time when government finances are severely constrained.’’

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