Chioma Umeha
Leaders in the health sector have been tasked to
ensure all health institutions’ drugs procurement system was safeguarded to
guarantee quality.
Dr Babatunde Ipaye, Ogun State Commissioner for
Health made the call at a Leadership Retreat and Health Summit organised by the
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Lagos State Chapter on Monday in Lagos.
Ipaye explained,
whatever system is adopted will eventually translate to what the
patients will consume.
“The way we procure drugs must be streamlined to
ensure technical and financial efficiency so that the quality is guaranteed and
all the logistic outlines from the point of procurement.
“Also, we must procure where possible, from the
manufacturers and where the manufacturers are not in the country, we must
procure from distributors or sales agents that have got manufacturer’s
authorisation.
“This will allow everybody takes drugs and sell to
the hospitals.
“This will not allow room for smart businessmen to
bring, sometimes, unwholesome products into our tertiary hospital space.
“T he best way to prevent that is not to just
trust people for who they call themselves, but to ensure that the procurement
system is safeguarded in a way that we need to deal with the appropriate
people,” he said.
The commissioner also called for the need for
leaders in the health sector to develop managerial skills.
He said that leadership responsibility was about
managing resources efficiently to deliver the desired results.
“The technical skills are not enough and there
must be deliberate decision for the leaders in the health sector to build
capacity of leaders across all levels.
“This is in order for the management of our
hospitals and the health space to be well structured, like we manage some other
sectors for results,” Ipaye said.
Also, Dr
Leke Pitan, a former Lagos State
Commissioner for Health and Education,
identified inadequate resource management as a
challenge facing a lot of crisis in the health sector.
Pitan said; “Some human attitudinal aspect come in
when government do not respond early or promptly and keep procrastinating.
“If we can appreciate that health ought to be
managed as a business, albeit a social business, in the sense that there will
be supply and demand sides; we just need to ensure both are optimal in level.
“The government need to provide enabling
environment for both sides.
“In the supply side, if the private sector is
encouraged, they will provide the facilities through private public
partnership, in government facilities where it becomes more obvious.
“Once the demand side is empowered enough to have
the purchasing power, that can take off the service. “
Contributing,
Dr Saliu Oseni, the NMA Chairman, said that the event was an initiative
of the association aimed at contributing its quota to the improvement of policies
and its implementation in the health sector.
“It is imperative that we ensure the sustenance of
our role as the custodian of the health of our people.
“In this essence, we need to synergise as members
of a family to consolidate on previous gains and be deliberate on taking
actions that will move the health sector forward,” Oseni said.
