Lagos pledges partnership with AGPMPN on primary health care

Gov. Ambode

The Lagos State government has assured the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, (AGPMPN), of its resolves to partner with the association in providing adequate and quality health care for Lagosians.

This assurance was given by the State Governor Akinwumi Ambode, as he declared open, the 2018 AGM/ Annual Scientific Conference of the Association, held at Jevinik Event Center, Ikeja, Lagos recently. The theme of the two-day conference was tagged ‘’General Medical Practice: A Veritable Tool for Primary Health Care Service Delivery.”

The governor who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, said the theme of the conference is apt at the period his government is prioritizing health care delivery because of the population size of the state.

He said the state has invested so much in the health sector, especially the primary health care, with the upgrading of these centers through the provision of state-of-the-art facilities and medical personnel.

“This theme touches on one of the areas we have focused on in the past years, based on our conviction that primary healthcare is the foundation upon which an inclusive healthcare system is built.

“I can assure you that this administration will support any initiative, policies and programmes that will improve our health sector. The state of the healthcare service has been evolving over the years; the truth, however, is that there is a wide gap between where we are presently and where we desire to be. There is, therefore, the need to work out a system of healthcare service delivery that is efficient, qualitative and accessible to everyone,’’ he said.

The host of the event and Lagos State Chairman of AGPMPN, Dr Tunji Akintade disclosed that the theme of the conference was carefully chosen because of failing result of various interventions by government and partners toward improving the health indices, particularly as the world is moving away from out of pocket payment to health financing.

He said the association has greater roles to play and government at all levels must be made to realize this and see things from the direction of the doctors, and engage the association in a mutual way.

Delivering a paper on the theme of the conference, the immediate past Chief Medical Director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof. Akin Osibogun, pointed out that one of the greatest obstacles to achieving effective primary health care system is government’s inability to deploy funds to the sector.

He revealed that the health sector most times get 3% or at most 5%, in the budget and when allocated, they are not properly utilized as 80 -90% goes to overhead cost while the remaining goes to operation. He added that the poor are stuck in vicious circle as they only visit the hospitals in extreme cases when their ailments may have gone out of hand.

Other speakers at the conference include: Dr Mrs. Elizabeth Disu, Consultant Pediatrician who spoke on “Standard Protocol of Childhood Illness Management: Tool to Improving Health Indices In Children,” while Dr Phillip Abiola, during the third plenary session, spoke on “Current Trend in Diabetes.”

The day two of the conference looked at ‘’Unified Medical Tariff, An issue In The Code of Conduct of Medical Ethics” which was delivered by Dr Tajudeen Sanusi , Registrar Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Abuja.