Hospital inauguarates new cardiology centre

The Honourable Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has reiterated the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s commitment to providing accessible, affordable and quality health care to Nigerians.

He said the government is using the provisions of the National Health Act (NHAct), the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), to achieve the third sustainable development goal (SDG 3) of Universal Health Coverage Osagie stated this at the weekend during the commissioning of the Grays Cardiology Centre in Ikeja, by Reddington Hospital, barely a week after the launch of its Breast and Gynae Centre.

He said, “the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) is furthering the revitalisation of nearly 10,000 primary health care centres (PHCs) in Nigeria, at least one in every political ward, working with states and our development partners, to rebuild the National Health System (NHS) from the foundation, including plans for a referral system to relay patients through secondary to tertiary facilities.

“We know this will not be easy, especially given that citizens’ confidence in the health system is low. Government desires to amend that impression, by improving the public health sector, and working more closely with the private health care delivery sector. So far there have been successes in reducing the frequency of strikes, improving attitude of health workers, promoting teamwork and supporting training.”

Commending the Reddington hospital management and the team of cardiologist for providing healthcare facilities and centres in the country to curb medical tourism, the Minister said, “This new centre we are here to commission today is a welcome development in that direction. Grays Cardiology Centre in fact sets the bar higher, in that it goes beyond the routine, to bring state of the art diagnostic and intervention capacity to Nigeria. We are proud that services that would have been found only in the top hospitals of technologically advanced countries, can be rendered right here, in the country, without need for passport, visa, airfare or other hurdles and expenses.”

He further said that Government, in addition to this, “specifically desires to encourage more private sector participants in health care delivery,” adding that “The injection of private capital, management skills, innovation and discipline should lead to the modernisation of health care delivery in Nigeria and the overall improvement of the health system.”