HEALTHNEWS

Salako Says Buildings, Equipment Alone Cannot Deliver Quality Healthcare Without A Responsible Well-Trained Staff As He Commissions New Facilities At Abuja FMC

Sharing is caring!

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, has said that buildings and equipment alone cannot deliver quality healthcare without a responsible, responsive and well trained staff. Salako stated this at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja on Tuesday, January14, 2025 while commissioning a ward extension building and a new clinical services complex. The ward extension building features a well-equipped 64-bedded facility that includes private rooms, semi-private rooms, and open wards that are designed to help alleviate the challenge of inadequate bed space in the hospital. A new three-story ultramodern clinical services building with a dedicated renal unit furnished with 18 hemodialysis beds and equipped to commence renal transplantation program at this centre in a couple of weeks has also been constructed.

These infrastructure, the Minister noted, are without doubt critical additions to the vision of Federal Medical Centre, Jabi to be a world class hospital. While congratulating the management and staff of this hospital for this important milestone Salako urged them to always put the patient at the centre by delivering top quality service to their clients at all time.

“Let me urge you management and the dedicated staff of this hospital to always put the patient at the centre by delivering top quality service to your clients at all time. As your know buildings and equipments alone cannot deliver quality healthcare without a responsible, responsive and well trained staff. Before patients experience your infrastructure, they will first experience your humaness right from the gate and their experience will be impacted more by the level of empathy and civility they receive. I urge you to always pay attention to these attributes even as you maintain your professionalism and clinical competence.

“For us at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, our priority is on the outcomes rather than the outputs, the end results of work, rather than the work itself. We will therefore be paying more attention to the quality of care and patients experience when they visit your facilities rather the sophistication of your equipments and infrastructure. With the rejuvenation of the National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee, we will be paying more attention on the standard of tertiary facilities (private and public) in the country. Also, the ongoing initiative to deepen digitalization of processes in our tertiary healthcare institutions through the Nigeria Digital in-Health (NDHi) will be used to leverage more on digital technology for better feedback from patients and put more emphasis on quality of care in our facilities.

“Let me also use this opportunity to appeal to all of us especially the management of the hospital to keep this new buildings and equipment well maintained, well serviced and ensure optimal return on the investment. Let us ensure they continue to serve the people of our beloved country for years to come by being more preventative rather than reactive in the maintenance of this new infrastructures. My assurance to you is that The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare will continue to support you with the right policy environment and mobilization of resources as required and possible”, the Minister stated.

He said the Federal Government is working hard to bring down the cost of dialysis across the 6 geopolitical zones of the Country

“As part of the Federal Government efforts to make dialysis care more affordable, the government last year commenced an initiative to bring down the cost of dialysis by about 80% in 10 selected Federal tertiary health institutions across the 6 geopolitical zones of the country. Going Forward, FMC, Jabi is now a good candidate to join the implementation of this initiative. Though this a temporary measure, it is expected that with the unlocking the value chain of the healthcare sector agenda of Mr. President, the removal of tarrifs on pharmaceuticals and other critical inputs in the sector and the expansion of the National Health Insurance coverage, the affordability challenge around healthcare services will be more sustainably addressed”, he said.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *