In a bid to grow the health sector in Nigeria, the Federal Government is making efforts to reduce the number of Nigerians seeking medical care abroad by improving the country’s healthcare system.
Speaking on Friday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja upon arrival from the BRICS conference in Brazil, the Minister of State for Health, Iziaq Adekunle Salako, stated that most nations in the world face similar health challenges.
“The challenges of most countries in health are similar to the health issues that we also face in our country — neglected tropical diseases like tuberculosis, leprosy, and so on.
“There are challenges of non-communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes, so we had discussions around how to cooperate, how to learn from one another to ensure that we are able to address some of these challenges,” the minister said.
He explained that challenges also exist around data governance, deployment of artificial intelligence into the health sector, and the use of data. Health systems were considered paramount to the growth of an efficient global health system.
“All these are very useful for us to align. One of the key priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is to reverse the direction of medical tourism from outbound to inbound. Obviously, a lot more can be done in the country.
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“Quite a number of people who otherwise would have gone abroad for healthcare will now be staying in Nigeria. And we also see the possibility of servicing the entire West African region.
“Nigeria is the only West African country as a member of BRICS, so we see a lot of possibilities around that. As you know, Nigeria became a partner member this year, which is basically a recognition of the strategic position of Nigeria as a country by the organisation,” he added.
While at the meeting in Brazil, the minister said the conference was an opportunity to discuss global health issues.
Discussions included universal health coverage, health insurance, domestic manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and vaccines, prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, and so on.
“Most of these issues align with the priority agenda of the President within the health sector. So it was an opportunity for us to showcase some of the reform agenda that is ongoing, and also express our interest in strengthening South-South cooperation, particularly discussions with China, Brazil, and other major countries.
“As you know, if you look at some of the capacities of countries like China within pharmaceuticals or manufacturing, India which produces virtually 60 per cent of the pharmaceuticals in the world, or even Brazil, which is also very strong in the technological space, we had to dialogue with them.
“A strategic dialogue mechanism has already been established in Brazil. Very soon, before the end of this month, there will be an MoU to strengthen relationships,” the minister explained.
Salako added that government efforts are meant to create an alternative to what “we used to know, particularly within the ambit of the challenges that we currently face in global health financing,” he stated.
In January this year, in recognition of Nigeria’s strategic position and as a demonstration of confidence in the country, Nigeria was admitted as a partner country of BRICS.
PunchNewspaper
