The Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) says the body will focus on four strategic pillars to strengthen the health sector and promote public-private partnerships in the country.
Mrs Njide Ndili, the incoming President of HFN said this on the sideline of HFN’s 3rd Annual Conference and its 10th Anniversary in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the two-day conference, which started on Thursday, is “Expanding Access to Quality Healthcare: Transforming Nigeria Through Innovation and Sustainability”.
NAN reports that Ndili, who is the Country Director of PharmAccess Nigeria, will succeed Dr Pamela Ajayi, the outgoing President, with whom she served as Vice President for two tenures.
Ndili said her focus would be on providing support to healthcare workers through public-private integration, bringing the private sector to run primary healthcare centres for efficiency, building capacity and tapping into diaspora knowledge.
She said these pillars would be in continuation of the foundation laid by HFN in the last 10 years.
Ndili said, “I have been involved in HFN from the beginning, and I will carry on with the foundation that has been laid down in the last 10 years.
“One of my focuses is ensuring that we continue to support doctors with service sector integration and strengthen the healthcare system. So, the first thing is continuing the public-private integration.
“Secondly, is how to bring in the private sector into running primary healthcare centres, a lot of which are non-functional, and this is very important knowing the capacity the private sector has to strengthen efficiency, transparency and financing.
“There is a lot of investment that the private sector brings to the table and this is one credible area as we try to operationalise the National Health Act, which makes health insurance mandatory.
“The third pillar is capacity building by ensuring that professionals in the healthcare sector have the right skills and have the right capacity to be able to run the sector and tap into the diaspora knowledge and expertise through technology”. (NAN)
