The future of healthcare delivery

By Gbenro Adeoye

Health experts and government officials have stressed the need for improved private sector participation in bolstering healthcare delivery in Africa. Nigeria’s Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu and the Ghanaian Deputy Health Minister, Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, were among government officials at the sixth West African Health Exhibition and Conference held in Lagos, from September 7-9, where Public Private Partnership was held up as integral to achieving effective healthcare delivery.

Themed ‘Public Private Partnership in Healthcare’, the three-day event attracted governments, public and private organisations and institutions, who turned up to share ideas and examine various models of public private partnership in healthcare. Government officials from Nigeria, Ghana, and India gave insights into their respective healthcare challenges, their course of action for actively engaging improved public private partnership in healthcare delivery, and success rates recorded thus far.

A viable partnership

Though the presentation by Mr Chukwu, who was represented by Tolu Fakeye, was not as elaborate as those of his colleagues from Ghana and India, all three presentations agreed on the need for improved private sector involvement in a country’s healthcare system. According to Mr Chukwu, the country’s health profile remains deplorable as the burden of HIV/AIDS, malaria and non-communicable diseases, along with infant and maternal mortality rates are still high. He noted that one of the major reasons responsible for the country’s current poor health indices lies in the system’s inability to harness “all human and material resources in both the public and private sectors for the benefit of the population.

”It is for this reason that fostering effective collaboration and partnership with all health actors is one of the seven strategic objectives of the National Strategic Health Development plan,” he said. Highlighting the essence of partnering with the private sector, Mr Chukwu said such partnership would expand the scope and quality of healthcare delivery. Mr Chukwu further explained that over 60 percent of the country’s health service delivery comes from the private sector, with “close to 70 percent of the cost borne by families, individuals, and so on, hence the need for a successful public private partnership.”

Also speaking at the event, Naresh Trehan, the president of India Healthcare Federation, said his country has made significant progress in healthcare delivery through government partnership with private actors, in spite of her 1.2 billion population. Hence, Mr Trehan expressed confidence in Nigeria’s capacity to also attain a more acceptable standard in healthcare delivery, with her estimated population of 150 million. He however stressed the need for countries to understand their peculiarities, to create a model that suits their individual needs.

In his presentation, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said his country was moving to improve public private partnership in healthcare. According to him, “A Private Health Sector Alliance that seeks to create a collective voice for the private health sector to dialogue government is also in its formative stage in Ghana.” Mr Mettle-Nunoo also said that private health sector caters for more than 50 percent of health services and provides about 30 percent of all facilities in orthodox hospitals and clinics in the country.

According to the Chair of the Local Organising Committee of the event, Wale Alabi, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Global Resources and Project, a Nigeria-based capacity building and medical consultancy firm, one of the organisers of the event, the subject of discourse at the conference had been carefully selected to serve as “a reminder that the development and future of the health sector in Nigeria and similar settings lies in the hands of the private sector and all for that matter.”

Medicine on display

The event also witnessed the exhibition of medical equipment, supplies and services. As in previous years, majority of the exhibitors were from India and China. Various medical material on display ranged from scientific gadgets, laboratory instruments, and hospital furniture to pharmaceutical products and other related services expected to encourage effective healthcare delivery in Africa, with particular emphasis on West Africa. But some of the participants at the event had mixed reactions over the non-availability of locally made medicals at the exhibition. Some participants blamed the high cost of healthcare on the failure of the country’s National Health Insurance Scheme as well as over-reliance on imported medical equipment. For instance, Mr Trehan, who is also the medical director at Medanta, a world-class medical institute in India, had earlier stated that the hospital receives about 50 Nigerian patients monthly. Calling for “a holistic approach” to solving healthcare challenges, Adekunle Oshinubi, a medical doctor, advocated for more funding for some vital sectors of the economy, like education, health and science and technology, to tackle some of the healthcare challenges. According to him, “Most private hospitals cannot afford most of the equipment at the exhibition since they are not produced locally. Because of this, many people pay a lot or travel abroad for simple treatments. So it is glaring that government alone cannot take care of our health system.”

Another participant, Biodun Atunrase, who also asserted that “Nigerians are one of the most medically travelled people in world,” called for private participation in healthcare. “By encouraging the private businesses, both local and foreign to invest heavily in healthcare, it would allow for competition and beat down the cost of healthcare for Nigerians,” he said.


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