As part of its strategic intervention in the health sector in Nigeria, the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), in collaboration with the Kano state government and the National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria (NACHPN), has organised a two-day forum on strengthening digital health applications to improve healthcare delivery in Kano state and the country in general.
The workshop explores the value of integrating telemedicine into the Coordinating Minister’s PHC framework to add public opinion in the development and provision of healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Experts on a panel made compelling and urgent pleas for investment in telemedicine and digital health applications to improve 80% efficiency in healthcare delivery, primarily if the nation provides a unified policy and guidelines to ensure that telemedicine is used to promote healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
The experts have also warned that for telemedicine to prosper, it must be financed by private investors or public-private partnerships to ensure quality service, protect citizens, and prevent abuse.
One of the panellists, the Kano State Director-General at the state’s Private Health Institutions Agency, Professor Salisu Ibrahim, warned that ethical issues in telemedicine and digital health applications must be regulated to protect citizens from the abuse of technology in healthcare delivery, adding that it is necessary to have laws, unified policies, and registration to operate.
While agreeing that telemedicine and digital health applications are not just a solution but the fastest and most effective way to bridge the gap in human resources for health in Nigeria and provide healthcare delivery to Nigerians, regulating it remains the only option to ensure its effectiveness.
Other experts who expressed their views at the event from academia, civil society organisations, government agencies, and donors unanimously agreed that investing in telemedicine and digital health applications is capable of reforming the nation’s health sector, also called for a unified policy for telemedicine and digital health applications deployment to ensure enhance the quality of healthcare services across the country and preventing cyber threats that could affect the health sector.
Earlier at the workshop, Alh Bashir Idris, Registrar of the National Association of Community Health Practitioners of Nigeria, revealed that integrating technology in the provision, treatment, and diagnosis of disease burden in Nigeria is not just a possibility but a near reality. This is due to technology’s transformative potential to significantly enhance healthcare delivery efficiency, which should inspire optimism among stakeholders.
‘In line with the vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the board has adopted technology in the practice of community health in Nigeria and is working to improve training in digital medicine pre and post-practice to support efforts to bridge the gaps in healthcare delivery across the 774 local government areas in Nigeria’ He said
While assuring that the over 200,000 registered community health practitioners in Nigeria will continue to be trained in deploying technology in healthcare delivery, he called on governments at the subnational levels to invest in technology to improve healthcare services for the teeming populace in their states.
In his presentation, e-health360 Chief Business Development Officer Dr Najib Usman described the adoption of technology in healthcare delivery as capable of providing an additional 60% access compared to physical accessibility.
He said using blockchain technology can solve the recurring challenges in healthcare and medical education in Nigeria, adding that it is imperative for the nation and all 36 subnational to see technology as the only mechanism for bridging the location gap and enhancing the health of the citizens.
Other panellists described the theme of the 2024 annual workshop on strengthening the Nigerian healthcare system and the role of community health practitioners as a welcome development, especially as the nation is facing a depletion of trained healthcare personnel due to migration and the search for greener pastures.
