Health Minister Inaugurates Statutory Committees for National Health Act

Kuni Tyessi
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has inaugurated statutory committees of the 2014 National Health Act to ensure adequate coordination and implementation of the provisions of the Act.

The statutory committees include National Health Consultative Forum, National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards, National Health Research Ethics, National Health Research, National Drugs Formulary and Essential Drugs Review and National Independent Tissue Transplantation.

The committees were to drive the process of achieving Universal Health Coverage by making healthcare services accessible, affordable and available for Nigerians in an equitable manner.

In his remarks during the inauguration‎ in Abuja, Adewole said the Act has seven parts and 32 sections and pointed out that the act provided key actors of the health system with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. It also provided minimum package of healthcare services for all Nigerians with a predictable and sustainable financing stream.

He added that the basic healthcare package would be funded from the one per cent consolidated revenue funds and any other sources provisions for innovative financing of the health sector.

He informed that the Act would equip the health system to play major role in emerging fields in the sector both locally and at the global level, adding that it would also encourage research and structures that would address ethical issues around research in the country.

In his response on behalf of the committees, the Chairman of the National Health Consultative Committee, Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, pledged that the committees would carry out their mandate satisfactorily and work assiduously towards moving the health sector forward.