Our Administration will Address Health Sector challenges – Minister
By Abdullahi Jalalalluden
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Professor Muhammad Ali Pate says the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will address the pressing challenges in the Nigerian health sector.
Pate stated this at the opening of 13th Biennial Delegates Meeting and Scientific Conference of Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), with a theme; Medical Education in Nigeria st a Crossroads: Challenges of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Education and Way Forward, held in Kano.
represented by Professor Abdulrahman Sheshe, Chief Medical Director, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital said there are numerous challenges bidevilling the health sector in the country but the administration of President Bola Tinubu is committed to address them.
“the government could not ignore the fact that there are problems of braindrain, poor funding, poor facility and obsolete equipment.”
“People, especially women in rural areas are suffering due to lack of good facilities and access roads, causing maternal complications that sometimes lead to death.”
The minister said the federal government is ready to collaborate with medical associations, such the MDCAN in a bid to achieve the aim of improving the health sector.
In his remarks earlier, the President of the MDCAN, Dr Victor A. Makanjuola noted that the theme of this year’s conference is extremely important and timely.
According to Makanjuola, lamented the mass exodus of medical consultants from the country in search for greener pastures .
“Medical education, just as clinical service delivery is taking a big hit from the exodus of consultants from the country to “greener” pastures. This is in addition to surreptitious turf encroachment often manifesting as curriculum upgrade by allied health professionals.”
” The need to have frank discussion and innovate speedily to address these challenges cannot be over emphasized.
“The array of national leaders of thought in Medical Education and global leaders in our profession sourced by the Local organising Committee will no doubt do justice to the theme,” he said.
Earlier, the Kano state Commissioner of Health, Dr Yusuf Labaran commended the MDCAN for the choice of the theme and Kano for this year’s programme.
Yusuf, represented by Prof. Salisu Ibrahim Ahmed, Executive Secretary, Private Health Institutions Management Agency (PHIMA) said the state government, in its commitment to improving healthcare services, had tackle the menace of diptheria in the state.
According to him, the government is also planning to employ more medical doctors in health facilities across the state in a bid to achieve improvement in the sector.
