The House of Representatives Committee on Specialty Healthcare has called for partnerships on the implementation of the “Legislative Activity Framework on specialised healthcare delivery in the country.”
The Chairman of the committee, Alex Egbona made the call at a stakeholders roundtable in Abuja.
He said that the thematic areas of partnership include Mental/Brain Health, Trauma and Obstetrics Fistula.
Other listed areas are Oral Health, Ear and Eye Healthcare, Blood Transfusion, Blood Management and Anemia.
He noted that Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine as well as Specialty Healthcare Innovation are also part of the thematic areas.
Egbona said the committee has discovered that challenges faced by all specialised healthcare providers and institutions in Nigeria include infrastructural decay, lack of requisite medical equipment, poor electric power source/ supply and poor / inadequate funding.
The committee chairman further observed that specialised hospitals and healthcare centres serving the nation as referral hospitals on specialised health emergencies are the lowest funded in the health sector budgets.
“The Committee therefore invited you all here today as professionals and experts to review the Draft Legislative Activity Implementation Framework, make your observations, contributions, interventions and inputs on the document,” he said.
He said that the expected outcome include improved legal and legislative framework for robust legal environment that enables the deployment of secure and efficient e-Health systems.
In his remarks,the Country Programme Manager of Christian Blind Mission (CBM) Michael Idah, said that proper attention should be given to the aged and Persons With Disability (PWD)
He explained that the aged and PWD are often secluded in the scheme of things especially access to medicare.
The programme manager urged stakeholders to take sustainability of the framework into consideration saying that it would prevent returning to the drawing board.
Also speaking, the Executive Director, Justice, Development, Peace Commission (JDPC) an agency of the Catholic Church, Rev. Fr. Sebastian Sani, said the church carries a mandate of looking after people with special needs especially the poor in the society.
He disclosed that currently, JDPC has 100s of people with disability that the church is paying their health insurance.
Sani called for the establishment of Specialty Healthcare Trust Fund that cooperate and private individuals will contribute to in support of the sub sector.
The Deputy Chairman, FCT Association of Integrative Medicine Practitioners, Dr Jackie Ikeotuonye called for a regulatory council.
She said that regulation of alternative medicine especially traditionalists who inherit some form of skills from their mentors or parents was imperative.
Ikeotuonye also emphisized the need to regulate and determine dosage as people are made to drink all sort of concentrated mixtures.
The committee gave stakeholders 10 days to further peruse the legislative activity implementation framework and submit memoranda for implementation.
