All awards based on merit, commitment to improving healthcare — PharmAccess

By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

As Nigerians yearn for quality healthcare services, the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards, NHEA, has conferred Awards of Recognition on the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Ebute-Metta, Paelon Memorial Hospital, and other healthcare organizations.

Prof Abayomi was conferred with the award of ‘Health Commissioner of the Year’, Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Ebute-Metta award was ‘SAFECARE Public Facility of the Year’, and Paelon Memorial Hospital received the ‘SAFECARE Private Facility of the Year’ award respectively.

NHEA awards popularly referred to as ‘the Oscars’ of the Nigerian healthcare industry, which is particularly based on quality healthcare delivery service rendered to Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the NHEA awards are designed to celebrate distinguished personalities and organizations who have contributed greatly to the growth of the Nigerian health sector.

Since its inception in 2014, it has become a high-profile event in the healthcare industry, gaining wide acceptance from stakeholders in the healthcare community.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Go for your 2nd jab, Abayomi tells Lagosians

In response to the Award, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Abayomi, who also was honoured and appreciated for his outstanding leadership in handling the deadly COVID-19 crisis in Lagos State, said the award is dedicated to all healthcare practitioners who helped the State in combating the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Country Director, PharmAccess Foundation,  Njide Ndili, while giving the award on SAFECARE said all awards were based on merit, commitment in improving healthcare services

“All award nominees were selected for their passionate commitment to quality improvement and service delivery.

“Our SafeCare standards are internationally recognized and create a transparent improvement path for health facilities’ seeking excellence in healthcare service delivery.  SafeCare Standards are accredited by the International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation”, Ndili said.

PharmAccess Foundation has been a proud sponsor for the NHEA SafeCare award for the last 6 years in its effort to promote quality improvement and excellence in healthcare service delivery in Nigeria.

While receiving the ‘SAFECARE Public Facility of the Year Award’, the Chief Medical Director, CMD, FMC Ebute Metta, Dr Adedamola Dada, said it will spur the facility do go the extra mile to improve services to patients.

“We thank all Nigerians and the organizers of the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Award 2021 for celebrating Healthcare Heroes. We never expected the Award. However, it would spur us to greater heights.

“It is worthy of note that the ‘SAFECARE Public Facility of the Year Award’ is very credible because SAFECARE is a quality organization that has worked and existed in Africa for over a decade. The award is dedicated to our patients, staff, Board of Management and to our Supervising Minister, Senator Adeleke Mamora”, Dada said.

Also speaking on the SAFECARE Private Facility of the Year’, the Managing Director of Paelon Memorial Hospital, Dr Ngozi Onyia, explained why her organization signed up for SAFECARE, “M  y decision to sign up for SAFECARE when I did was one of the best business decisions I took. It put us on a growth and constant improvement trajectory that has been our differentiating factor. We strive to do it right the first time, all the time.”

The Chairman, Advisory Board of Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Award 2021, Dr Anthony Omolola said, “We are very proud of how Lagos State Government and Ministry of Health responded to the outbreak of COVID-19. NHEA is a special award because we work diligently to select those who impacted the health care space in Nigeria.

“Our aim is to become the best in Africa and working toward all over the world. We received over 20,000 nominations and the NHEA jury shortlisted over 100 nominees made up of organizations and individuals both from the public and private sectors for voting.

“The NHEA jury made a shortlist based on published criteria for each set of awards for online voting on the NHEA voting portal. We also evaluated claims of nominees simultaneously across the country.

“In a bid to continuously improve our current process to meet international best practice, there was tremendous use of technology with improved security features.”

The NHEA wished all awardees, nominees, sponsors, and guests the best of 2021 and looks forward to another edition in 2022.

Vanguard News Nigeria