The function of a healthcare system is to regulate the maintenance, provision and improvements of adequate and timely medical care to humans in a nation. It is done via providing primary care, secondary care, tertiary care and public health to the people.

The Nigerian healthcare system has made progress in some areas in the last few decades. But they are still some nagging issues concerning healthcare in Nigeria that needs to be addressed. What are some facts about healthcare in Nigeria? What are the problems with the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria? and most importantly What are the practical ways to improve healthcare in Nigeria.

This article will answer all these questions in a concise and comprehendible way, so please read on.




Facts about healthcare in Nigeria

• Healthcare in Nigeria is run by the three tiers of government. The federal government is responsible for the tertiary healthcare, which involves coordinating the affairs of the university teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centres. While the state government manages secondary healthcare, which involves managing general hospitals. And lastly the local government is responsible for primary healthcare, which are regulated by the federal government through the National Primary Health Care Developing Agency (NPHCDA).

• The first healthcare facility in Ngeria is a dispensary opened in 1880 by the Church Missionary Society in Obosi.

• Between 1945-1955 the first Colonial Development plan for healthcare in Nigeria was introduced. The health system was regionalized.

• Between 1962-1968 the First National Development Plan for healthcare was introduced in Nigeria by the government, with emphasis on the need for expansion of healthcare to rural areas. Subsequently a second, third and fourth were later launched.

• In May 1999, the government created the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the scheme encompasses government employees, covers children under five, permanently disabled persons and prison inmates.

• In 2006, A new national health policy was adopted. The plan includes a re- designed National health insurance scheme with focus on reducing cost of treatment and adequately financing healthcare providers.

• In 2016, a report stated that life expectancy in Nigeria was estimated at 63.4 years.

• The Nigerian government allocates approximately 15% of it's annual budget on healthcare.

• There are presently 37,000 medical doctors to take care of approximately 180 million Nigerians.



There have been positive achievements made by the Nigerian healthcare system, some of which include:

• In 2012, a new bone marrow donor program was launched in Nigeria, the second in Africa. This program will help people find bone marrow donor easily and reduce diseases like leukemia and lymphoma.

• The NHIS has benefitted citizens by providing preventive and maternity care, as well as providing inpatient care (up to 15 days per her in standard ward).

• Effectively combating epidemic outbreaks, like Ebola.

• In 2013, more than 79 million Nigerians between the ages of one to 29 years were innoculated with the MenaAfricVacine ( a meningitis vaccine) across 26 states




Problems with healthcare in Nigeria

In truth, there is no perfect healthcare system on earth. Healthcare is influenced by social conditions, economic conditions and health policies in a nation. Some problems with healthcare in Nigeria include:

• Poor healthcare facilities in the country, especially the rural areas.

• According to the 2009 communique of the Nigerian national health conference, two major issues were highlighted. First, lack of coordination, disintegration of services, scarcity of resources, including drug and supplies, inadequate and decaying infrastructure, inequity in the distributionof resources, poor access to care and very deplorable quality of care. Second, lack of clarity of roles and responsibilities among the different levels of government.

• There is also no adequate medical surveillance of the healthcare system to check its effectiveness.

• There has been many significant disease outbreaks in Nigeria.

• Poor primary health care delivery in rural areas in Nigeria.

Now that we have identified some issues in the Nigerian healthcare system, let's now examine some practical ways in which healthcare in Nigeria can be improved.




WAYS TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE IN NIGERIA


According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a well-functioning health care system requires a robust financing mechanism; a well-trained and adequately-paid workforce; reliable information on which to base decisions and policies; and well maintained health facilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines and technologies.


1. Integrating adequate medical intelligence and surveillance systems.

Medical Informaton System (MEDISYS) is a media monitoring system that provides event-based surveillance to rapidly identify potential public health threats using information from media reports. It is also used to combat and effectively monitor the outbreak of communicable diseases and bioattack. The presence of an MIS system will greatly improve the quality of healthcare delivery in Nigeria. It will give professionalized and deeper analysis of critical information regarding infectious disease outbreaks. It is already used in many developing countries and will very beneficial if integrated into the Nigerian health sector.




2. Carry out regular health campaigns and awareness

Another practical way to improve primary healthcare delivery in Nigeria is by disseminating vital information through health and awareness campaigns. When the public are properly and regularly informed about diseases, preventive tips and healthcare information the nation benefits.




3. Harmony in the health sector

Professor Isaac Adewole, Nigeria's minister of health stated that one of the problems facing the health sector is lack of cohesion among health professionals. In his words “The need for a symbiotic relationship among medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, nurses, radiographers and other health workers will fortify the health sector.” This is feasible because such harmony is a requirement for effective healthcare delivery system in Nigeria. No healthcare professional should feel superior to the other. The Nigeria health system should be based on team work. Regardless of their discipline, they should work together to provide the best possible healthcare services to every Nigerian.




4. Inform people about the NHIS

In 2016, a report was published which stated that only 4% of Nigerians are covered by the NHIS. This is appalling, considering the fact that other developing countries like Ghana and Kenya already have 50% coverage of their own health insurance schemes.
Effort should be made to inform Nigerians about the national health insurance scheme, because of the rising cost of healthcare services in the country.




5. Support from the government

The government has a huge role to play if the healthcare system in any country is to improve. The three tiers of government have to clearly define their lines of responsibility. The salaries of health personnel should not be delayed, the quality of infrastructure and health facilities should also be improved.
If healthcare is to develop in Nigeria, the government has be to more supportive and view each disease as a threat to national security and the wellbeing of its citizens.


In all honesty, it is easier said than done. To improve the quality of healthcare and healthcare delivery in a developing nation can be a real challenge, but with consistent effort, teamwork and support from the government improvements can be made. Thank you for reading.

Originally written by Nwokolo Collins.

SOURCE: http://www.youmustgethealthy.com/2017/03/5-practical-ways-to-improve-healthcare.html?m=0

Of course Nigeria's healthcare system has to improve, Nice points. Lalasticlala move to front page nah

ok

[b]

In addition;

The primary health care (PHC) facility is often all that rural communities have in form of a formal health system. How then do we improve the quality of care when attention has consistently been on expanding the reach of PHC services to rural populations and hardly on quality of services? The presence of a PHC facility does not guarantee its use and there is a wrong assumption that a minimal level of input (i.e. infrastructure and staff) is essential before one can discuss quality. Even when quality becomes a real issue, it is often about supervision; but supervision is a poor proxy for quality. The quality of supervision itself is what matters. Handled poorly, this becomes a vicious circle: poor supervision results in low quality of services and low quality of services set a low standard for supervision.

Health services in Nigeria mirror political organisation. The federal government is responsible for tertiary care, state governments for secondary care, and the local governments run primary care. The financing of (but not the responsibility for) public health is tied to the flow of funds from the federation account. Funds are shared between levels of government according to an allocation formula that keeps about half at the federal level, allocates a quarter to the 36 states, and gives the other quarter to the LGs. These resources are not sectorally earmarked and the states and LGs are not constitutionally required to provide budget and expenditure reports to the federal government. Nigeria thus leaves the most important and consequential level of health care – primary health care – to the weakest level of government. This results in poor coordination and integration between levels of care, giving rise to a weak and disorganised health system, in which widely varying patterns of outcomes depend on local situations.

The decentralisation policy that makes local governments run primary health care in Nigeria rests on the imported notion that services are most efficient when governance is close to the people, an assumption that is premised on the existence of a well-functioning participatory democracy where the electorate are neither hungry nor ignorant. Most of the rural people our PHC facilities serve have not been exposed to high quality health services so they accept what they get as the norm or, when they imagine it not to be the norm, without complaints. When they cannot put up with low quality services they ignore the PHCs by staying at home, and they consult quacks, only to present in the PHC or other hospital in emergency, often too late for life-saving interventions.

This is not a new problem, and Nigeria has responded in two important ways to the disjunction between finances and responsibility on the one hand, and between communities and the political administration of health on the other. The National Primary Health Care Developing Agency (NPHCDA) is one such Nigerian innovation, albeit as usual, not completely well thought out. NPHCDA is a federal government agency with policy and oversight roles on PHC implementation at the state and local government levels in Nigeria. The major drawback is that a federal agency has no binding constitutional role to implement programmes or policies at the state and local government levels. The governments must be willing to cooperate or nothing happens, and cooperation often has to come with financial commitment, which for every government are highly contested grounds.

The second innovation, also poorly thought out for the short term, is the creation of Ward or Village Development Committees (WDCs or VDCs). An initiative of NPHCDA, they are designed to strengthen local communities in the hope that they can advocate for themselves. The committees are made up of influential community members who can help to enhance community participation and ownership, and promote demand for quality services. The problem here is that people can only demand what they are really passionate about. People may be empowered by knowledge, but it takes a deeper level of knowledge that can translate into passion and commitment to get people to act and change their behaviour.

It is much easier to ignore community participation when the issue is improving input — infrastructure and staff. But for quality, it is clear that we either find a way to get communities actively engaged in the health system that serves them, or we establish structures and processes that will allow us to temporarily bypass community participation on the road to improving the quality of care at the PHC level in Nigeria.

Health professionals are often in the position to set the standards for themselves, and then police themselves to ensure their practice is up to those standards. Health workers in Nigeria as in many other countries, rather than police themselves, are more likely to protect their colleagues from complaints of negligence, malpractice that may lead to litigation. In a situation where people are not empowered to detect poor quality, speak up and fight, there is need for the health system to fill that role on behalf of the people.

This gap in behaviour means that the solution to the quality issues in primary care has to be innovative. We must think of structures, both government- and civil society-led, to act on behalf of communities in the hope that by so doing, members of the community can learn to make demands in their own voices. This may happen through continuous supportive supervision through the use of standardised checklists. It is also important to openness, while discouraging a culture of blame and fault finding in quality assurance.

Nigeria lacks the technical, financial and political sophistication and robustness required for a complete decentralisation of health services. To streamline the health system, it may be necessary to bring PHC under the federal roof, and add tertiary care to the responsibility of state governments. The role of supportive supervision can then be left to the local governments who will function independently with verification of their activities by civil society. I am afraid this proposal may only look good on paper. Implementation in reality will be difficult, and there are great political hurdles to reorganising a system, especially when such reorganisation involves huge financial commitment by the different tiers of government.

[/b]

Who cares

Doctors In the house from age 30 and above
do well to send Me a pm
cheers

Great one

good native doctor

Holla

Evaberry:
Doctors In the house from age 30 and above

do well to send Me a pm

cheers

Y do u need a PM?

Evaberry:
Doctors In the house from age 30 and above

do well to send Me a pm

cheers

I'm Not up to 30 tho'...

I hope the govt read dis and take action


I have come to a realization that, for anything to work well in this country, it must be on autopilot... which means its has to update, upgrade, operate independently and withstand extensive abuse.....

Op
When I Don collect medical visa

Na 103 days

I no dey stay London o


What's wrong with you

Ok

Interesting info

Check my signature if you want to send Bulk SMS to DND Numbers

Good

okay

We are good at writing essays, articles and talk talk talk. No action.
The article quoted 37000 medical doctor in Nig without reference to others. Medical doctors alone do not constitute a functional healthcare system.
Healthcare system is built on team work not the acclaimed superiority of a particular professions that sees others as inferiors.

Evaberry:
Doctors In the house from age 30 and above

do well to send Me a pm

cheers

Are you sharing money ?

DeRay98:
We are good at writing essays, articles and talk talk talk. No action.
The article quoted 37000 medical doctor in Nig without reference to others. Medical doctors alone do not constitute a functional healthcare system.
Healthcare system is built on team work not the acclaimed superiority of a particular professions that sees others as inferiors.

That's a profound issue you raise up there. Thumbs up!

Caspian22:
The function of a healthcare system is to regulate the maintenance, provision and improvements of adequate and timely medical care to humans in a nation. It is done via providing primary care, secondary care, tertiary care and public health to the people.

The Nigerian healthcare system has made progress in some areas in the last few decades. But they are still some nagging issues concerning healthcare in Nigeria that needs to be addressed. What are some facts about healthcare in Nigeria? What are the problems with the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria? and most importantly What are the practical ways to improve healthcare in Nigeria.

This article will answer all these questions in a concise and comprehendible way, so please read on.




Facts about healthcare in Nigeria

• Healthcare in Nigeria is run by the three tiers of government. The federal government is responsible for the tertiary healthcare, which involves coordinating the affairs of the university teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centres. While the state government manages secondary healthcare, which involves managing general hospitals. And lastly the local government is responsible for primary healthcare, which are regulated by the federal government through the National Primary Health Care Developing Agency (NPHCDA).

• The first healthcare facility in Ngeria is a dispensary opened in 1880 by the Church Missionary Society in Obosi.

• Between 1945-1955 the first Colonial Development plan for healthcare in Nigeria was introduced. The health system was regionalized.

• Between 1962-1968 the First National Development Plan for healthcare was introduced in Nigeria by the government, with emphasis on the need for expansion of healthcare to rural areas. Subsequently a second, third and fourth were later launched.

• In May 1999, the government created the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the scheme encompasses government employees, covers children under five, permanently disabled persons and prison inmates.

• In 2006, A new national health policy was adopted. The plan includes a re- designed National health insurance scheme with focus on reducing cost of treatment and adequately financing healthcare providers.

• In 2016, a report stated that life expectancy in Nigeria was estimated at 63.4 years.

• The Nigerian government allocates approximately 15% of it's annual budget on healthcare.

• There are presently 37,000 medical doctors to take care of approximately 180 million Nigerians.



There have been positive achievements made by the Nigerian healthcare system, some of which include:

• In 2012, a new bone marrow donor program was launched in Nigeria, the second in Africa. This program will help people find bone marrow donor easily and reduce diseases like leukemia and lymphoma.

• The NHIS has benefitted citizens by providing preventive and maternity care, as well as providing inpatient care (up to 15 days per her in standard ward).

• Effectively combating epidemic outbreaks, like Ebola.

• In 2013, more than 79 million Nigerians between the ages of one to 29 years were innoculated with the MenaAfricVacine ( a meningitis vaccine) across 26 states




Problems with healthcare in Nigeria

In truth, there is no perfect healthcare system on earth. Healthcare is influenced by social conditions, economic conditions and health policies in a nation. Some problems with healthcare in Nigeria include:

• Poor healthcare facilities in the country, especially the rural areas.

• According to the 2009 communique of the Nigerian national health conference, two major issues were highlighted. First, lack of coordination, disintegration of services, scarcity of resources, including drug and supplies, inadequate and decaying infrastructure, inequity in the distributionof resources, poor access to care and very deplorable quality of care. Second, lack of clarity of roles and responsibilities among the different levels of government.

• There is also no adequate medical surveillance of the healthcare system to check its effectiveness.

• There has been many significant disease outbreaks in Nigeria.

• Poor primary health care delivery in rural areas in Nigeria.

Now that we have identified some issues in the Nigerian healthcare system, let's now examine some practical ways in which healthcare in Nigeria can be improved.




WAYS TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE IN NIGERIA


According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a well-functioning health care system requires a robust financing mechanism; a well-trained and adequately-paid workforce; reliable information on which to base decisions and policies; and well maintained health facilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines and technologies.


1. Integrating adequate medical intelligence and surveillance systems.

Medical Informaton System (MEDISYS) is a media monitoring system that provides event-based surveillance to rapidly identify potential public health threats using information from media reports. It is also used to combat and effectively monitor the outbreak of communicable diseases and bioattack. The presence of an MIS system will greatly improve the quality of healthcare delivery in Nigeria. It will give professionalized and deeper analysis of critical information regarding infectious disease outbreaks. It is already used in many developing countries and will very beneficial if integrated into the Nigerian health sector.




2. Carry out regular health campaigns and awareness

Another practical way to improve primary healthcare delivery in Nigeria is by disseminating vital information through health and awareness campaigns. When the public are properly and regularly informed about diseases, preventive tips and healthcare information the nation benefits.




3. Harmony in the health sector

Professor Isaac Adewole, Nigeria's minister of health stated that one of the problems facing the health sector is lack of cohesion among health professionals. In his words “The need for a symbiotic relationship among medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists,medical laboratory technicians personnel, nurses, radiographers and other health workers will fortify the health sector.” This is feasible because such harmony is a requirement for effective healthcare delivery system in Nigeria. No healthcare professional should feel superior to the other. The Nigeria health system should be based on team work. Regardless of their discipline, they should work together to provide the best possible healthcare services to every Nigerian.




4. Inform people about the NHIS

In 2016, a report was published which stated that only 4% of Nigerians are covered by the NHIS. This is appalling, considering the fact that other developing countries like Ghana and Kenya already have 50% coverage of their own health insurance schemes.
Effort should be made to inform Nigerians about the national health insurance scheme, because of the rising cost of healthcare services in the country.




5. Support from the government

The government has a huge role to play if the healthcare system in any country is to improve. The three tiers of government have to clearly define their lines of responsibility. The salaries of health personnel should not be delayed, the quality of infrastructure and health facilities should also be improved.
If healthcare is to develop in Nigeria, the government has be to more supportive and view each disease as a threat to national security and the wellbeing of its citizens.


In all honesty, it is easier said than done. To improve the quality of healthcare and healthcare delivery in a developing nation can be a real challenge, but with consistent effort, teamwork and support from the government improvements can be made. Thank you for reading.

Originally written by Nwokolo Collins.

SOURCE: http://www.youmustgethealthy.com/2017/03/5-practical-ways-to-improve-healthcare.html?m=0

Nice post and quite spot on. Symbiotic relationship is key in the health sector and not a Jack of all syndrome. Contemporaries outside this country has seen and acknowledged the patient as the central foci of the health team with everyone making contribution to the patients well-being. Only harmony can bring this patient centred care.

But make necessary correction and changes to the bolded and slashed. At this age and stage you should know who and who works in the laboratory as there're
1. Medical laboratory scientists
2. Medical laboratory technicians
3. Medical laboratory assistants
The 3 are of different cadre so it's safe to say personnel if you don't know which category you want to cite.

Good job and input you've made

DeRay98:
We are good at writing essays, articles and talk talk talk. No action.
The article quoted 37000 medical doctor in Nig without reference to others. Medical doctors alone do not constitute a functional healthcare system.
Healthcare system is built on team work not the acclaimed superiority of a particular professions that sees others as inferiors.

can u please tell us number of other health workers in nigeria? op also stated that industrial Harmony is vital for good healthcare system. However, most health care workers are suffering from either superiority or inferiority complex.

nelszx:


Nice post and quite spot on. Symbiotic relationship is key in the health sector and not a Jack of all syndrome. Contemporaries outside this country has seen and acknowledged the patient as the central foci of the health team with everyone making contribution to the patients well-being. Only harmony can bring this patient centred care.

But make necessary correction and changes to the bolded and slashed. At this age and stage you should know who and who works in the laboratory as there're
1. Medical laboratory scientists
2. Medical laboratory technicians
3. Medical laboratory assistants
The 3 are of different cadre so it's safe to say personnel if you don't know which category you want to cite.

Good job and input you've made

op quoted words of minister of health and you cannot blame him for that. besides, many health workers are not mentioned.for example, there is no mentioning of pharmacy technician, medical record officer, clinical psychologist, optician, optometrist,radiography technician, cleaner, medical social worker, and on.
the message is clear, precise and correct. there is no need of pointing errors. thanks.

joyandfaith:


op quoted words of minister of health and you cannot blame him for that. besides, many health workers are not mentioned.for example, there is no mentioning of pharmacy technician, medical record officer, clinical psychologist, optician, optometrist,radiography technician, cleaner, medical social worker, and on.
the message is clear, precise and correct. there is no need of pointing errors. thanks.

Even when you know who the op and minister was referring to. No matter how you choose to ignore you can't be mentioning doctors, dentists, pharmacists, physiotherapists and lab technicians in a particular statement. Even if the op were the minister himself I'd still correct him.

Evaberry:
Doctors In the house from age 30 and above

do well to send Me a pm

cheers

where us your pix?

nelszx:


Nice post and quite spot on. Symbiotic relationship is key in the health sector and not a Jack of all syndrome. Contemporaries outside this country has seen and acknowledged the patient as the central foci of the health team with everyone making contribution to the patients well-being. Only harmony can bring this patient centred care.

But make necessary correction and changes to the bolded and slashed. At this age and stage you should know who and who works in the laboratory as there're
1. Medical laboratory scientists
2. Medical laboratory technicians
3. Medical laboratory assistants
The 3 are of different cadre so it's safe to say personnel if you don't know which category you want to cite.

Good job and input you've made

Thanks

You forgot to add eradication of corruption, a lot of corruption takes place in govt hospitals. You see all those survellance , awareness stuff you posted there its corruption that will most likely kill it.

NHIS should work on its website first , I got almost zero info from that website some days back.

As for the health workers let them keep beefing and looking down on themselves.

Kindly note that the future of health care is here already.
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My advocacy is on this alternative as a better option to synthetic products.

There can be no radical redevelopment and revolution in Nigeria's healthcare industry without the adoption and integration of Internet of Things and Big data techniques.


That is the way forward!

clarification tho Op.. the agreed percentage of budgetary allocation to the health sector is 15%....
dts nt actually d amt dt goes to health per year realistically..

the best the govt has done since dt agreement was abt 8.6%...

d most recent figure is sth within d range of 3.8-4.5%..
a far cry from d minimum required to manage a reputable health care system..

it's no wonder .... d Nigerian health sector is such a mess n in such a dilapidated state...

Doctors n oda health professionals Its our obligation to ourselves n d countless number of pple dt look up to us 4 healing to rily do sth Abt dis disgraceful state of affairs...!!!