The Federal Ministry of Health is set to sign a new agreement with the German government, one that will see a facelift in the vibrancy and the quality of health care delivery in the country.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, made this known over the weekend in Abuja during a press briefing, after a meeting with the Germany Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, and other top government officials from German.
According to him, “We are in talks with the German government in areas of public health, technical cooperation, and areas of improvement of the health system where we need their expertise and experience to be able to get progress in our own health system and Nigerian economy in general. We will be seeking the support of Germany in areas of patient transportation, e-health, and mobile-health in enhancing the health system in Nigeria and service delivery.”
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Spahn said “We really do appreciate the strong partnership between our two countries and the cooperation that we have in many areas. We discussed the eradication of polio where we do cooperate and we want to reach out worldwide. That is something countries need to engage and we are making financial contributions to help get it done. There are already five hospitals here that are supported by our ministry for economic development so that we can have a ‘train the trainer’ concept and have cooperation between the hospitals.
Concerning the recurrent issue of brain drain, Ehanire said: “When we lose them, it is like losing money to Europe and America. We are trying to reverse that by offering more opportunities here.
The lack of opportunities is a driving factor, and also the fact that there is much higher remuneration in Europe and America than here. We also need some kind of reverse compensation. That is why we have requested that Germany send to us experts, particularly in surgery, oncology, and so on, who are going to volunteer in Nigeria to help strengthen service delivery and the health sector.
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