As COVID-19 pandemic calls for new management strategies, urgency

Over 40 healthcare professionals participate

By Gabriel Ewepu

Two health sector stakeholders, PharmAcess and Enterprise Development Center, EDC, weekend, collaborated to boost capacity in managing public health facilities following the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic which calls for new management strategies and urgency.

The training was held in Lagos with over 40 healthcare professionals including private and public sector participated, where the facilitator, Chief Medical Director, Federal Medical Center, Ebute Metta Lagos, Dr Adedamola Dada, stressed the need for a change of approach in healthcare management and delivery with emerging challenges that the health sector needs to grapple with and adjust in order to record success in what they do.

According to Dada practical steps which he instituted to transform his organization was to carry out an initial assessment to identify areas that need improvement, digital transformation, which boosted the revenues of the hospital and prevented leakages.

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He also disclosed how FMC Ebute Metta strategized and achieved the needed change in terms of infrastructure, procurement administration, staff capacity development, patient management, and other critical areas that made the hospital more resilient, pragmatic, and productive in service delivery despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his speech he made it known about the effects of the Healthcare Management Programme, HMP, by using FMC Ebute Metta as an example for participants and Nigerians to understand how the knowledge he acquired transformed management and operation of a government-owned hospital.

Healthcare Management Programme, HMP, is a certificate programme designed to build the capacity of healthcare professionals in the key areas of quality, business, finance, operations, patient-centered care, and inventory management.

The HMP is designed to also address the business capacity gap that currently exists among healthcare professionals in Nigeria. The programme has been designed with a robust curriculum and delivered by seasoned world-class faculty through a blended approach consisting of online and offline classes. The programme is designed to assist healthcare professionals in building their capacity to better manage their business.

Meanwhile, earlier, the Country Director, PharmAccess Foundation, Njide Ndili, noted that public hospitals- primary, secondary and tertiary is not problematic to transform if the management and staff are adequately trained and equipped with necessary materials.

Ndili also lamented the abandonment of primary health care facilities or operating abysmally, and said has to change if the Nigerian government wants to achieve Universal Health Coverage.

“The Government needs to invest in constant training and retraining of healthcare professionals to equip them with the skills needed to manage public hospitals”, she said.

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However, she pointed out that most of the HMP participants have been from the private sector that prompted her PharmAccess to develop public sector-focused training in collaboration with EDC.

The 4th and 5th cohorts of the HMP will be graduating in March 2021 and the 6th cohort will be commencing in March 2021. The 5-month training programme is a blend of presentations, case studies, activities, role-plays, and lectures.

Relevant case studies in the health sector are used to help contextualize the peculiarities of the sector. Subsequently, the participants receive tailored coaching and advisory from experienced healthcare professionals who help them develop solutions to challenges within their healthcare institutions.

Since its inception, a total of 118 healthcare professionals have been trained in 5 cohorts of the HMP. In addition to all the other interventions of PharmAccess in Nigeria, the HMP is another expression of its passion to ensure that every Nigerian has access to quality healthcare services.

Vanguard News Nigeria