Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, has said the bank is deeply committed to deploying resources in support of Nigeria’s healthcare system.
Speaking at the National COVID-19 Summit, Suleiman disclosed that Sterling Bank provided technical support for the Presidential Steering Committee and other stakeholders in the planning of the summit. He also acknowledged the outstanding work of the genome sequencing team of South Africa who helped to identify and mapped out the Omicron variant of COVID, remarking that the qualities of their resilience, perseverance and innovation have birthed work that has given the world a chance to get ahead of the new dimension of the on-going pandemic.
The CEO also highlighted the key numbers on Nigeria’s healthcare, which is projected to contribute three percent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2021 with three quarters of those contributions coming from the private sector.
On the role of private sector financing in health emergencies, Suleiman said there was a need to expand the private sector’s role from a funding channel to full partner that assesses the current national and sub-national frameworks for healthcare delivery.
He also advocated for a push in Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to achieve framework redesign and improve delivery, efficiency and cost of medical assistance as well as the need to introduce the constructs of public good and positive externality as reasons for continued private sector financing in healthcare.
He said the bank had been working with Lagos, Cross River, Bayelsa, Kaduna and Ekiti state governments on building more robust and resilient structures to manage emergencies better, remarking that in Cross River, the bank and a consortium of partners have been heavily involved in the design and implementation of a health sector can always count on the support of the bank.
Also speaking, Sterling Bank’s Divisional Head for Health Finance, Mr. Obinna Ukachukwu, said the health sector can always count on the support of the bank, adding that the bank’s intervention in the economy covers other sectors, including education, agriculture, renewable energy and transport.
Ukachukwu said, “We don’t just sit out there as a financial institution to make money without impact. We are impact-led, believing that as we contribute our quota to developing the country, we would build an economy that is sustainable for everyone. And I will like to reaffirm our commitment, especially to the health sector.”
Further highlighting the role of the bank in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, Ukachukwu said the bank supported 100, 000 people to access healthcare through tele-medicine and set up a Health Workers’ Fund to assist frontline health workers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the bank also helped to build testing platforms for COVID-19 during the initial phase of the pandemic.
He asserted, “Now, we are going into a phase where we need to plan for the future beyond COVID-19. How do we reach the finishing line of the COVID-19 pandemic? And are there going to be other pandemics?
