Edo to Strengthen Healthcare Regulation, Service Delivery, Tackle Quackery

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-city

The Edo State Government yesterday disclosed its ongoing interventions to strengthen healthcare regulation and improve quality health services in the state for residents.

It also expressed its commitment to achieve a strong and resilient healthcare service across all levels of healthcare delivery in the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Obehi Akoria, who disclosed this during a strategic meeting with leaders in nursing in Benin-city, said the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led state government is working with professional groups in the state to tackle regulatory failures and quackery in the healthcare system which contribute significantly to avoidable diseases and deaths in and outside health facilities in the state.

According to her, “Governor Obaseki places strong emphasis on improving the performance of the health sector.”

Identifying the upgrade and subsequent opening of the world-class Edo College of Nursing Sciences as one of Obaseki-led administration’s major achievements, she informed participants at the stakeholders’ meeting that the governor has continued to focus on service delivery, healthcare financing, and training institutions as major drivers of healthcare improvement in the state.

“The Ministry of Health has resolved to perform its role as a regulator better, setting standards and ensuring compliance in all healthcare facilities in the state,” the commissioner added.

The medical expert emphasised the pivotal roles of nurses in healthcare, and called on the nurse leaders to partner the Ministry of Health to achieve compliance with standards and in tackling quackery in the nursing profession.

Prof. Akoria said the stakeholders’ engagement was the first in a series of similar strategic engagements that will be held with other healthcare professionals in Edo State to strengthen the health system and ensure quality healthcare delivery to residents.

On her part, the new acting Director of Nursing Services in the state, Mrs. Patricia Osazuwa, noted that regulation in nursing is a task to be taken seriously.

Reassuring participants of the government’s commitment to working with nurse leaders in the state to improve the nursing profession, Osazuwa said Edo State is rolling out new strategies to tackle quackery and brain drain in the profession.

The Edo State branch of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) participated in the strategic meeting. It was also attended by nurse leaders from the academia, primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities among others.