Chioma Umeha
Sterling Bank Plc, one of the leading commercial
bank, has said it is collaborating with Premier Medical Systems (PMS) and
PharmAccess Foundation to host a digital health summit aimed at transforming
Nigeria’s health care sector for better service delivery.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos recently,
Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sterling Bank, noted that
although thousands of people are making individual efforts to lift Nigeria’s
health care sector, such efforts are not enough to take the industry to the
next level.
He said, “Our approach is to use our influence and
resources to bring all collaborators in the sector together to brainstorm on
the way forward through a sustainable collaboration that is digital based.”
Abubakar said, “Our operations are based on three
pillars. We have an agile mind, we have a digital platform and we also have
specialist skills. We are bringing the specialist skills we have to the health
care sector using the digital platform. So we will find the parties that can
make it digital.
“We cannot use traditional methods to catch up. We
want to use the technology that is now available to leapfrog the sector. If we
are to solve the problems in the health care sector in Nigeria, the solution
cannot be provided by doctors, nurses, pharmacists, hospital administrators or
even partners that are providing financial support.
“It can only happen when these parties come
together and work out the issues. We want to be known for bringing people
together to find the solution,” Abubakar said.
The CEO also noted that stakeholders in the health
care sector cannot find a solution to the problem without adequate and reliable
information, remarking that the current state of affairs in the sector is
pitiable because anyone looking to get information about the sector will get
contradictory statements from different sources.
He said the bank wants to work with digital
partners to get reliable data that stakeholders in the health care sector would
be able to use in their work.
Also speaking Dr. Niyi Osamiluyi of Premier
Medical Systems said the Digital Health Summit would bring together
stakeholders in the Nigerian digital health space. He said the theme of the
summit would be, “Leveraging mobile technology for Health: Progress and
Challenges.”
He said the summit would have stakeholders such as
the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal Ministry of Communication, NITDA,
NHIS, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Bank and Mobile Network
Operators (MNOs), among others, in attendance.
The summit aims to encourage collaboration and
create connections between investors, development partners, government
agencies, other stakeholders and startups.
In her remarks, Ms. Njide Ndili, Country Director
of PharmAccess Foundation, noted that the summit would bring people together to
solve the problems of the sector as well as provide finance that would take it
to the next level.
She said PharmAccess is an entrepreneurial
organization with a digital agenda dedicated to connecting more people to
better healthcare in Africa. It employs a multidisciplinary team of
professionals in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria and the Netherlands. The Dutch
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a committed and long-term funder of the
organisation’s activity.
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