Medical experts are calling for a synergy with government and private sectors through initiatives like health insurance, donors and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to ensure citizens can afford healthcare and sustainable options for financing in developing countries.
The experts say financing healthcare consistently is a critical determinant of universal health coverage and more collaboration will improve health and ensure efficiency in Nigeria.
These experts made the call during the Clina Lancet Laboratories’ 10th year anniversary in Nigeria, themed ‘Healthcare Diversification in a Developing Economy’
“Most of the patients in Nigeria, about 70 percent of them pay out of pocket for healthcare services. Apart from budgetary allocations, health insurance, donors as well as BHCPF are areas and ways that we can now see that the government and private sector is trying to collaborate,” Olayemi Dawodu, anatomic pathologist/ managing director of Clina-Lancet Laboratories said.
According to Dawodu, while it is necessary to diversify, key challenges like policy and regulations must be addressed.
“This can be done by the government and not the private sector by setting up a structure and having people that go around to ensure compliance,” she said.
Also speaking, Temitope Ambrose, business development manager, Clina-Lancet Laboratories said there are lots of healthcare enthusiasts that do not even have access to the right funding thereby not being able to set up the kind of standards, technology, or equipment that are necessary for a start-up healthcare organisation.
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“If the cost of capital or finance is high, it tends to affect pricing which leaves the burden on the patients.”
Ambrose further spoke on the capacity of laboratory testing in Nigeria and said that in the medical laboratory space, we believe over the years there’s been a significant improvement.
Clina-Lancet Laboratories is part of an internationally accredited pathology laboratory, the Lancet Group of Laboratories providing high-quality pathology services to the medical and allied sectors, including occupational health in over 14 African countries at present. Clina-Lancet operates ethically, efficiently and effectively, enabling them to provide these services at competitive rates.
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