By Edebor Esther Ihunanyachi
The well-being and survival of any society depend largely on its healthcare delivery system, as it determines the standard of living for the general populace.
An effective healthcare delivery system offers proactive, cost-effective and efficient medical care as well as the necessary social support structure to guarantee the wholesome well-being of the people.
The COVID-19 outbreak exposed the weaknesses in global health systems. The need arose for nations around the World to upscale their healthcare delivery systems to proffer better and sustainable changes in their various countries.
The Edo State Government, under the leadership of Governor Godwin Obaseki, in its quest to position the State as the preferred destination for medical tourism in Nigeria and in the West Africa sub-region, has initiated reforms in the healthcare sector to improve upon the low standard of the healthcare delivery system and to broaden the scope of healthcare delivery to residents of the State.
The reforms, which are geared towards making healthcare available, affordable and accessible to Edo residents and beyond, have birthed a new era of medical care in the State.
For instance, the decentralization of healthcare, construction and rehabilitation of primary healthcare centres across the 18 Local Government Areas of the State are geared toward increasing access to quality healthcare. In the same vein, to ensure that all Edo people can afford healthcare, the Government introduced the Edo Health Insurance Scheme to provide health coverage and reduce out-of-pocket expenses for residents of the State.
Similarly, the defunct Edo State School of Midwifery was upgraded and renamed the Edo State College of Nursing Sciences. The institution offers modern technological approaches in healthcare practices and new dimensions to caregiving in a conducive learning environment.
In recent times, the State Government launched the telemedicine service, a program initiated to provide accessible professional healthcare to residents in the State at no cost.
The medical intervention is leveraging the use of technology, which was first kicked started in Edo South in collaboration with the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), witnessed the treatment of Over 4,000 residents with varying medical conditions. Plans are already in place to extend the remote service to the other two Senatorial Districts of the State.
In a bid to consolidate these reforms, the Government through the Ministry of Health has embarked on the process of domesticating the National Health Act (NHACT), which will be named Edo Health Act (EDHACT) when signed into law.
The Act will provide a legal framework for the regulation, development and management of the State healthcare system, and set standards for rendering healthcare services in Edo and for related matters.
The domestication process began with the review of the Act to ensure that it speaks to the needs of the Edo Healthcare Sector. The Act is divided into seven sections which include: Responsibility for Health, Eligibility for Health Services, Development of the National Health System, Health Establishments and Technologies, Rights and Obligations of Patients and Healthcare Workers as well as National Health Research and Information System.
To intensify the effort and expedient domestication of the Act, the Edo State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Obehi Akoria, has inaugurated the Health Research Ethics Committee to improve the quality of health research in the State.
The Committee is responsible for reviewing research proposals and protocols to ensure that research conducted by relevant institutions, agencies and establishments contributes to the prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases to promote quality healthcare delivery in the state.
It is gratifying to state that these novel and proactive steps by the Edo State Government will help to guarantee a sustainable and viable health delivery system that will provide quality healthcare services to the residents of the State, thus making Edo a preferred destination for medical tourism.
