The health of Nigerians is one of the priorities of President Bola Tinubu, according to the country’s Coordinating Health and Social Welfare Minister, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate.
In this regard, the president had uveiled the health sector renewable Investment Initiative and the sector wide program, which is geared towards responding to the needs of Nigerians, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.
The sector is built on four pillars of governance to improve the Nigerian health system.
The Minister revealed this at the inauguration of the National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee (NEMTC) and Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) On Rural Emergency Services and Maternal Transport (RESMAT) in Abuja, on Wednesday.
He said access to emergency medical services, a missing link, is a critical aspect of healthcare delivery, particularly in low-income settings like Nigeria where resources are often scarce, and infrastructure is inadequate. In these contexts he said, the populations especially pregnant women and children face significant challenges in accessing timely and appropriate medical care during emergencies.
“The lack of comprehensive emergency services contributes substantially to crude mortality rate but most especially maternal and child mortality rates which remain unacceptably high in Nigeria”, the Minister stated.
He said to lead to better health outcomes, there must be an unlocking of a value chain, working with the private and public sectors, to also improve health security.
“This will be achieved collectively between the federal government, state and local governments, with private sector and government establishments that will lead to a coherent approach to improving the health of our population, Prof. Pate said
“Since the President is aware of this initiative, we’ve made several efforts to put block by block the pieces that will ensure Nigeria’s health sector gets into a much better direction and Nigerians to feel the impact, he added.
He said Nigeria accounts for a staggering one in every four global maternal deaths, this harrowing statistic implies that a pregnant woman in Nigeria faces a 1 in 21 chance of succumbing to pregnancy and childbirth-related complications, contrasting sharply with the global average of 1 in 190 (World Health Organization, 2020).
“Timely, appropriate, effective and efficient emergency medical responses can reduce these abysmal statistics. it is an essential element to achieving universal health coverage by responding to a range of acute conditions in children and adults, including injuries, infections, acute exacerbations of non-communicable diseases, and complications of pregnancy”. It is estimated that every year, we have about 7 million pregnancies with an estimated 9% developing complications mostly in the rural areas”.
The Minister also said the high maternal mortality rate accounts for why a lot of mothers don’t get access to care in due time. He further added that it must be made easier for pregnant women to access primary health care services when the need them.
He said this requires a multi-stakeholders approach.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Daju Kachallom described the committee (NEMTC) as a very important one to the Ministry who always get tolls of accident victims and those who die on the road, without emergency services provided for them.
She also part of what the Ministry does is to ensure that Nigerians get the much needed quality care, “and to save lives as much as we can”.
The Chairman of NEMTC, Ismail Musa Jibril said Nigeria has seen a considerable rise in trauma related morbidity, driven by factors like terrorism, civil unrest, accidents and natural disasters.
“We have the unacceptably third highest maternal mortality, globally, only bettered by Chad and war-torn Sudan.
He said many of these women die from postpartum haemorrhage and infection – two treatable conditions with timely interventions.
“This underscores the need for a robust National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system to ensure lifesaving care is available to al, regardless of their ability to pay”, he said.
More to follow…