By Folasade Akpan
Prof. Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, says Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) remain critical partners in helping government identify blind spots and realign its health sector reforms.
Pate spoke in Abuja at a CSO/Media-Led Mid-Year Review of Nigeria’s Health Sector Reforms and Policy Dialogue.
He said government alone could not adequately translate policies into programmes without continuous feedback from civil society actors working closely with communities.
“Only civil society can help provide that feedback and recalibrate the reforms,” he said, noting that such input had shaped the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (HSRII).
The minister recalled that the initiative followed an interim review process with CSOs leading the National Council on Health to approve a sector-wide partnership involving the federal government, states, local governments and civil society.
He said this led to a Compact being signed committing all parties to jointly increase health resources and improve governance, in what he described as a shift “from a system working for the system to a system working for the people.”
Pate identified accountability and supply chain management as key pillars of the reform, saying CSO involvement in monitoring had strengthened transparency in the sector.
On funding, the minister said presidential interventions had enabled states to invest directly in health infrastructure, calling it a departure from health financing being solely a federal responsibility.
He cited the approval of 79 new ambulances toward a target fleet of 400, alongside a near doubling of medical school admissions from 5,000 to 10,800 annually in recent years.
Pate also said an expanded emergency care programme for women had supported nearly 60,000 cases in two years, helping remove cost as a barrier to accessing caesarean sections during complications.
“It’s not just the federal government,” he said, stressing that resources channelled to states were enabling them to close gaps on the demand side of healthcare delivery.
He acknowledged that years of health sector neglect could not be reversed within a few years, but expressed commitment to building “the health system that Nigeria deserves.”
The event featured the recognition of Sen. Ipalibo Banigo, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) as Health Champion.
Banigo expressed appreciation for the recognition and pledged to continually use her office to advance healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event drew health sector stakeholders, CSO representatives and development partners for the review.(NAN)www.nannews.ng
Edited by Vivian Ihechu