ABUJA— PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo admitted yesterday that the Federal Government contributed in large measure to the underdevelopment and crisis in the nation’s health sector.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the formal launching of Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), in Abuja, President Obasanjo stated: “We allowed facilities to run down, failed to bring in new technology and ignored the need for retraining.
“Of course, the health sector was not spared from the scourge of waste, corruption and misplaced priorities. In addition, poor leadership became the easy victims of unpatriotic elements.
“With the undemocratic, inefficient and insensitive nature of governance in the past, many of our professionals, trained at public expense, fled the country in search of more conducive environments to practice their professional callings. These are the facts”.
Obasanjo assured that government was poised to change the situation in the interest of the people and the nation. He said that the HERFON initiative was evidence that government’s reform policies were working.
According to him “Many professionals are returning home to be part of the task of promoting stability, growth, development and democracy. We are resolutely on a path to a better health care delivery system and you can be rest assured that there would be no turning back. Nigerians deserve the best and they will get the best”.
He described the HERFON initiative as a welcome development, adding that the time was only right but also the environment was conducive for reforms and innovation.
“Our government is determined to pursue the reform agenda to a successful conclusion. This is because we have no option than to reform now to enable our citizens and future generations to enjoy better quality of life. That is how they can contribute maximally to sustainable human and economic development.
“This would require sacrifices from us today for a better tomorrow. It is gratifying to note that HERFON is coming at a time that the Health Sector Reform Agenda is being finalized. I urge you, therefore, to be part of the significant efforts being made by the Federal Ministry of Health in this regard”.
President Obasanjo called on partners in the health sector to actively join in government’s efforts at reforming the sector, adding that “I note, with satisfaction, the support given by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) over the years in funding the Change Agent Programme (CAP), which is changing to become HERFON”.
HERFON’s Director, Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe said that HERFON was the first kind of NGO set up solely to “promote positive changes/reform in the Nigerian Health Sector and having a national coverage with members in all 36 States and FCT, Abuja. It is also unique in being a National organization originating from a donor funded programme, the Change Agent Programmes (CAP)”.
He stated that CAP (now HERFON) was developed and funded by the UK DFID in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health in 2001. According to him “the basic tenet of the programme is that sustainable change has to come from within and be institutionalized.
“However, the change will not happen without catalyst; it is these catalysts that CAP has been finding and empowering. Most of these problems are still there; hence the need for an organization like Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON)”.
He state that the CAP (HERFON) had achieved the following through the Change Agents, namely: the production of a harmonized draft National Health Policy, which has been submitted to the Federal Ministry of Health as an input towards the review of the National Health Policy; the production of a draft National Health Bill also submitted to the Federal Ministry of Health an input to the enactment of a National health Act for Nigeria, among others. HERFON’s mission is to promote, facilitate, support and monitor sustainable reforms in Nigerian Health Sector towards better outcomes in Nigeria, and it has on its board of Trustees: HRH, Dr. Haliru Yahaya, Dr. Mrs. Dora Akunyili, Dr. Mrs. Lola Dare, Ambassador Mustapha Sam, Dr. Sanni Wali, Professor Mrs. Mildred Amakiri, Dr. Oladiopupo Awosika and Hajia Bilikisu Yusuf.
