Okolo Advocates Public/Private Deal For Quality Healthcare

A former NACCIMA National President, Dr Simon Okolo, says Nigeria needs adequate and functional health policy to enthrone competitiveness in the health care sector.

NACCIMA is the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture.

Okolo in an interview with journalists in Aba last Thursday, challenged the Federal Government to establish attainable policies to tackle the deplorable health situation and attract the needed capital for quality health care delivery in the country.

He said that with adequate health policies, Nigerian professionals abroad would come home to help improve on the health care system with their experience and finance, through a kind of public/ private partnership arrangement.

Okolo, who is also a medical doctor, said that the decay in the Nigerian health system had become so bad that government alone could not address the situation.

“Competitive health care system is not beyond this country, all we need do is to provide the incentives and flexible structures to attract investors, to bring in the resources we need to undertake building of world class hospitals or purchase critical health equipment that will help save lives. “Or even attract outside people to come to our country for medical treatment”.

“Our medical practitioners can also learn from the wealth of experience of these investors and medical practitioners, who return home, to upgrade their knowledge and transform health care service delivery in the country,’’ he said.

He said that high costs of access to quality health care had driven many people to seek sucuor in herbal and prayer homes, instead of hospitals.

“One of the greatest threats to healthy living in Nigeria has remained the high cost of access to quality health care.

“This has driven many people especially in rural and sub urban communities to seek sucuor in herbal and prayer homes than hospitals,’’ Okolo said.

He flayed the leaders for always going abroad to treat even common ailments that could be handled in Nigeria, instead of developing the health sector to cater for the health needs of the people.

He observed that the money spent by the leaders and other wealthy Nigerians to travel abroad for health care was more than enough to start work on the improvement of the nation’s health care system.

Okolo called for proper allocation of funds, adequate planning and implementation of policies to put Nigeria’s health care system in the proper sphere, to shoulder the enormous challenges of health care delivery in the 21st century.