THE appointment of Professor Ali Pate as the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare was well received by health sector stakeholders due to his track record as a global-level medical professional. 

His pedigree as a former Minister of State in the same Ministry also places him in a familiar terrain where he does not need time to learn the ropes.

He recently unveiled, along with his colleague the Minister of State, Dr Tunji Alausa, a four-point agenda to revive a sector that went to the dogs under the Muhammadu Buhari regime. The only bright light in the eight years of the Buhari administration was the commendable handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, a continuation of such feat which dates back to our excellent reaction to the Ebola epidemic of 2014.

The ministers pledged to improve governance of the tertiary and teaching hospitals, with emphasis on strengthening the regulatory capacity of institutions such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC. They pledged to focus on population health, ensure domestic manufacturing of drugs and inputs which we import, including vaccines. The ministry is also to be better positioned to tackle epidemics, pandemics and others.

There was, however, loud silence on one of the biggest problems confronting our healthcare sector: brain drain and medical staff welfare. The sector was hard-hit in the past eight years. The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, in October 2022, sounded the alarm that Nigeria had lost over 10,000 doctors to brain drain in seven years. The same applied to nurses and other healthcare professionals. This came on the heels of poor welfare for medical staff. Hardly does a year pass without the NMA declaring a strike. The situation is worse with resident doctors who are always on the verge of strikes due to poor welfare.

The neglect of our healthcare professionals is even more pathetic at the state levels. In Abia State, for instance, teaching hospital and other medical staff were once owed 23 months salaries, for which they embarked on a strike that lasted over six months. 

While the doctors who look after the masses are neglected, our leaders and their families enjoy the best of health care abroad at public expense and without shame.

This is one of the challenges Pate and his team must battle. The welfare of medical staff and massive upgrades of health facilities should top President Bola Tinubu’s priority list. We want the system to become so improved that the President and the rest of the ruling class can confidently receive treatment at home henceforth.

The primary healthcare system should be resuscitated and the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, strengthened to include more participants, especially those from the lower levels of the informal sector.

The task is enormous but very surmountable.