Barely a few months after Professor Muhammad Ali Pate was appointed as the Minister of Health, he was able to attract a whopping $3 billion from International development partners around the world to Nigeria. This includes a $1 billion MoU signed with Afreximbank, another $1 billion from GFATM, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and an additional $150 million from GAVI Alliance, where Prof. Pate came from as CEO. There’s also a grant of $200 million from a philanthropic organisation. The inflow of $3 billion to unlock the healthcare value chain is no mean feat. Employment and business opportunities, and, above all, the availability of medical equipment and pharmaceutical products to the populace are all guaranteed within a very short period.
On December 17, 2024; Prof. Pate commissioned the Jawa International’s Beta Lactam Pharmaceutical Manufacturing facility in Lagos. This marks the nation’s efforts towards medical Industrialisation, which is in tune with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s health sector renewal investment initiative. The idea is to transform the health sector from a consumption model to one that provides jobs and strengthens domestic manufacturing.
This milestone is in line with Tinubu’s executive order aimed at stimulating manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, medical textiles, test kits and other consumables. The order also enables government procurement to prioritise local manufacturers. The Jawa facility will be producing essential antibiotics like Amoxicillin Clavulanic Acid locally. With the new facility in Lagos, close to 1000 young Nigerians have secured jobs, creating employment and uplifting household incomes.
Earlier in the year, Prof. Pate had announced an investment of $240 million by a brazilian entity to establish a generic drug manufacturing plant. This is targeted at enhancing the healthcare value chain and promoting the local production of essential medical supplies, especially test kits. In another feat for medical industrialisation, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has just approved the production, packaging and shipping of a prequalified HIV rapid test kit in Nigeria by Colexa biosensor Ltd./Codix Pharma Group. This is focused on creating a sustainable diagnostics market in low and middle income countries.
In just a little over one year in office, Prof. Pate has also been able to oversee the processes of conversion and upgrade of about 10 hospitals/medical facilities to Federal Medical Centres (FMC). Some have been converted or upgraded to teaching hospitals, like the one in Azare, Bauchi state. Some of the states that have these new FMCs include Bauchi, Adamawa, Lagos, Ekiti, etc. This expansion is set to enhance healthcare quality and safety while boosting the region’s capacity to address health challenges. Prof. Pate emphasised that this development aligns with the mandate of the Federal Ministry of Health to provide accessible and high quality healthcare services nationwide.
This is just as Prof. Pate declared that, “no woman should lose her life simply because she cannot afford a C-section”. Nigeria had announced that free emergency caesarean operations would be made available to poor and vulnerable women in an ambitious plan to bring down the high number of mothers dying in childbirth. At 1047 deaths per 100,000 childbirths, Nigeria has the fourth highest maternal mortality rate in the world, and lack of access to C-section operations is thought to be the main reason.
Thousands of primary healthcare centres are being upgraded and expanded nationwide, with the aim of achieving a total of 17,000 vital and well equipped centres across the country. Already, 1400 are revitalised to provide skilled birth attendance with at least 2400 doctors, nurses and midwives recruited to provide service to Nigerians across the nation. 120,000 frontline healthcare workers are also being retrained to man these upgraded healthcare facilities. Presently, about 8,000 facilities are in focus and are being revitalised.
The ministry, in partnership with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), is building a state-of-the-art oncology centres in the six geopolitical zones of the country, with one already in place in Lagos, and another in Kano. The ministry had also announced that Nigeria has surpassed its 2024 target of enrolling millions of Nigerians under the Healthcare Insurance Scheme. The National Health Insurance Scheme announced a total of 19.2 million Nigerians enrolled under its scheme. This success is attributed to the strategic reforms that have taken place along with improved collaborations with relevant stakeholders. This, of course, includes the expansion of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund and the partnerships with state health insurance agencies, to ensure affordable and accessible healthcare to all Nigerians.
In a review of the performance assessment of the ministry in conjunction with the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Policy, Performance, and Delivery, Hajiya Hadiza Bala Usman, Prof. Pate said that his ministry is pursuing the rebuilding of a national health system that is equitable, effective, efficient, responsive and sustainable. “The National Health Act 2014 has remained largely under-implemented, until 2023 when we reignited its ideals, prioritising swift execution with an adaptive approach. We have shifted from 90% planning to 90% action and real time feedback”, the health minister said. This can be confirmed by the numerous achievements recorded over such little time by the ministry, under the leadership of Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate. I am certain that when the administration marks its fourth year anniversary, the successes recorded by the health sector reforms would be monumental. I am thrilled that Prof. Pate is representing the Bauchi state constituency well, making us proud.
