Practitioners in the healthcare system have been advised to take advantage of the several premium healthcare solutions and technologies that abound in advanced economies to improve the Nigerian healthcare sector.
At the HealthCare Business Conference (HBC) of the Medic West Africa Exhibition and Congress, in Lagos recently, leaders in the health and technology sector argued that technological innovation would help bring healthcare services to millions of Nigerians.
In one of the session at the HBC, Dr. Chibuzo Opara, co-CEO, DrugStoc, Lagos, said advanced medical technology could improve the standard of medical practice in Nigeria through the introduction of innovative, high-quality, affordable state-of-the-art medical equipment.
Beyond the impact of technological innovation on the health sector, the practitioners also had the opportunity to examine the issue of business management alongside bookkeeping skills.
Highlighting the essence of business management, country director of Iqvia and board member of Healthcare Foundation of Nigeria (HFN), Mr. Remi Adesuen, said most members of the HFN were in the SME sector of the economy and they offer primary healthcare services to Nigeria, contrary to the notion that primary healthcare was the job of government.
According to him, more than 70 per cent of Nigerians access their healthcare through the private sector and 60 per cent of the practitioners were SMEs, who need business skills and technology to provide the required medical care.
He said that the HBC, which was held in partnership with the Anadach Group, was designed to give those attending the Medic West Africa Exhibition and Conference access to knowledge on business planning, models and innovative approach to healthcare business.
In addition, he said that the SMEs were taken through the rudiments of bookkeeping and the regulatory laws of the several agencies that they deal with so that they don’t go against the laws of their operating environment.
He stated that the deployment of digital technology was the best option for the SMEs in today’s health sector, particularly as the business begins to grow.
Adeseun advised the SMEs to come together to access some basic services that border on accounting, business and other related services so that the cost could be reduced.
He called on them to look for opportunities of partnership or collaboration with other players in the public or private sectors.
that would bring the benefit of economy of scales to bear on their businesses and improve the nation’s healthcare.
According to him, although health is a social services, the era when it was run entirely as social service has ended and as such it must be run presently as a business for the services to be sustainable.
He stated if enough fund is not generated to cover the source of fund for the business wither it is government or private, the free health will fail because there will be no longer materials for the business.
To avoid such scenario, he suggested the health insurance scheme which he said has proved effective in most advanced countries of the world saying that the Nigeria health insurance scheme has failed because it was not mandatory.