Former minister wants holistic regulation of health sector by government

 A former Minister of health, Dr Khaliru Alhassan, has called for a holistic regulation of the health sector by the government to clean the system of unethical practices by health workers.

The former minister made the call at the 2nd Annual International Conference of the Nigeria Association of Foreign Trained Pharmacists (NAFTraPh) on Saturday in Abuja.

Represented by Mr Linus Awute, a former Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Alhassan lamented that the sector was not regulated as it ought to be, thereby giving room for unethical and poor service.

He said that there was need for the government to reaffirm the principles that would help the sector as a matter of human rights of the people and national security.

“What I am saying is that the health sector, like any other sector of the Nigeria economy, is a functional sector, but as much as it has challenges, it also has prospect.

“So we are talking about the need to integrate the healthcare sector with public to be able to meet the demands of the community, residents and the patients in the hospitals.

“And how best to do that is for government to reaffirm the principles that will help it. It is a matter of human rights, health is a matter of national security, once this is affirmed, the obligation to prioritise health becomes real,” he stressed.

According to him, when the issue of prioritisation is achieved, the institutional arrangement for the regulation of the health sector will fall in place and will be strengthened.

The former minister said that the priotisation would also bring necessary alliance that the sector was required to matchup with the cross cutting responsibilities like other sector and there would be much progress in the sector.

According to him, the integration of the health sector must cut across all the tiers of the government so that people would understand that the health development could bring in promotion to the country.

Alhassan said that the implementation of policies in the health sector must be consistent, so that every desire of the sector could be achieved.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference which started on Oct.10 would end on Oct.13. (NAN)