Chijioke Iremeka
A former Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Professor Akin Osibogun, has recommended that healthcare providers be paid based on the quantity and quality of services they render.
He said this while delivering a lecture titled ‘Optimising Health Services for Nigerians in the 21st Century’, during the Medical Guild Lagos 2023 Scientific Conference held in LUTH.
According to him, taking such steps would help to improve the quality of healthcare services offered across the country.
Osibogun said that based on national experience, government bureaucracy and inefficiencies make quality delivery of services often difficult.
The public health physician said, “Our next concern will be the delivery of health services. In my opinion, the best fund disbursement mechanism to promote quality delivery of health services will be a pay-for-performance mechanism in which providers are paid based on both quantity and quality of services provided.
“If we are ever going to lift our people out of poverty, we must address their health and access to health services. A mechanism that can help in achieving this must be fair in fund pooling and health risk sharing. Either a general tax mechanism or a dedicated tax mechanism in the form of mandatory health insurance can be a fair fund pooling mechanism.”
To address the problem and ensure that citizens have access to needed health services, Osibogun said Nigerians must look for fair financing mechanisms, particularly those that protect citizens against catastrophic health expenditure, and which send individuals, families, and communities into abject poverty.
He also advocated integrated health services for Nigerians, which will incorporate tested elements of traditional medicine with orthodox medicine.
Osibogun said, “I have put forward the argument that advancing the health of Nigerians in the 21st Century will require intersectoral collaboration to address the social determinants of health in addition to ensuring a resilient and sustainable health system which itself must be designed to make health care available, accessible and relevant to the health needs of Nigerians.
“If we fail to address the issues of availability, accessibility, quality, and relevance, then we will fail in advancing the health of Nigerians. However, we cannot afford to fail if we want history to judge us fairly.
“It will ensure a firm handshake between all levels of the healthcare system – primary, secondary and tertiary, and it will recognise and appreciate the complementary role of both the public and private health sectors. Integration must thus, be vertico-horizontal or multi-dimensional.”
The former LUTH CMD said strong political commitment and a clear vision are the steps needed to advance the health of Nigerians in the 21st century and beyond.
“Let us, therefore, strengthen the private sector through access to single-digit loans, tax holidays and similar policy tools. Let us improve on our investments in the development and retention of human capital for health.
“Let us guarantee effective demand for health through a mandatory health insurance agenda and we will see the cycle turn in favour of improved health for Nigerians. I believe we can do it and we must do it as that is the only responsible choice we have,” he added.
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