The Chief Executive Officer, SYNLAB Nigeria, Kenneth Okolie, has called for improved regulation of public and private health institutions.
Okolie, who made the call at the maiden SYNLAB Nigeria webinar series tagged “Health for All”, said that more integrated private sector participation was necessary to ensure access to quality healthcare for all Nigerians.
He said that functional and maintained Primary Healthcare facilities with strong accountability frameworks that ensure professionalism and proper utilisation of available resources was essential for improving the availability and access to quality healthcare in Nigeria.
Okolie also mentioned that while it is public knowledge that the health sector could improve with better funding, the issues of accountability within the public sector must be addressed head-on.
He added that adequate financing and effective implementation of the Universal Basic Health Coverage Act would help steer the sector from its current state to a desirable status.
Speaking on health equity, a health technology finance professional, Dr. Dami Adeyemi Levites, said that healthcare financing could help to reduce the financial barriers to accessing healthcare services through insurance coverage.
He opined that healthcare financing could reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients, stressing that out-of-pocket costs account for about 70 per cent of all healthcare expenditures in Nigeria.
He said that a collaborative drive was needed for healthcare tech companies to share data and drive better healthcare outcomes for end users. He called for improved government policies and healthcare spending interventions to achieve health equity.
On preventive health, Dr. Chinonso Egemba, popularly known as Aproko Doctor, said that Nigeria needed to focus on preventive healthcare, noting that it helps the individual and the nation to ensure health for all.
Egemba stated that regular health checks, screenings, immunisation and good health-seeking behaviours would ensure the prevention of diseases.
