FG inaugurates committee for a dialogue on power in health sector

The Federal Government of Nigeria is set to host a national stakeholders’ dialogue to address challenges of huge energy cost and lack of power being faced by Federal Tertiary Health Institutions.

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, made this announcement on Friday in Abuja during a media conference, where he also inaugurated a committee to plan and prepare for the dialogue.

According to him, holding such a dialogue has become important owing to the deficits in electricity provision and huge energy cost.

He said that the Federal Government had through various initiatives such as 50 per cent electricity subsidy for public hospitals and provision of solar power mini-grids in selected hospitals sought to address the challenges.

“These initiatives have however not been able to substantially address the challenges thus the need for an urgent rethinking of our traditional models of power generation and supply to hospitals.

“Indeed, the current situation requires a collaborative whole-of-government approach as we work across sectors to resolve many challenging issues that are beyond the purview of the health sector.”

Salako added that there had been some instances of alternative energy solutions being deployed in certain health institutions across the nation.

However, he pointed out that these efforts were neither integrated nor guided by a holistic framework, operational guidelines, or an overarching policy.

He noted that there had also been reports of fire incidents, battery malfunction, theft of critical energy infrastructure, and other operational or maintenance problems in some health institutions that had embarked on alternative energy projects.

The minister however, said that it was time to turn the tide and ensure that tertiary health institutions got the required support needed from the power sector.

“We can no longer afford business as usual in the face of mounting energy bills of our hospitals.

“The time has come for all hands to be on deck to relieve our hospitals of the burden of prohibitive cost of power supply which gulps hundreds of millions of Naira monthly.

“This is the time to be creative and innovative as we move to develop and adopt smart energy solutions.

“These solutions will strengthen our health system and empower us to deliver on our core mandate of improving population health outcomes.”

He added that in all the hospitals he had visited, he instructed the Medical Directors to explore various Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models and develop business cases.

Additionally, he asked them to draw up strategic plans of engagement that would attract private sector investments.

This, he said, was to boost their capacities in the area of alternative and renewable energy solutions.

He also encouraged all public healthcare facilities to think in this direction adding that it should be a priority agenda for the Committee of CMDs and MDs of Federal Tertiary Hospitals.

Salako said that the objectives of the dialogue were to assess the existing power policy environment in relation to the urgent energy needs of tertiary health facilities and other public health facilities in Nigeria.

“This assessment would be based on lessons learned from other low-middle-income countries (LMICs).

“It is also to gather field experiences of the current power situation and elicit practical recommendations and best practices.

“It would also identify alternative and sustainable solutions by exploring renewable energy options, backup power systems, and energy-efficient solutions to enhance power reliability.

“Others are to agree on mechanisms to strengthen public-private partnerships for electricity supply to public health institutions in the country and develop a collaborative action plan for monitoring implementation of key agreements of the national dialogue.

“It would also build consensus on policy and regulatory frameworks, funding mechanisms, and sustainability strategy for efficient power supply to tertiary health facilities and other public health institutions in the country.”

Salako said that the proposed national dialogue would be attended by experts from the health and power sectors.

He added that key decisions and recommendations would be documented in the communiqué, and a Collaborative Plan of Action would be developed to monitor the implementation of these decisions.

While inaugurating the dialogue implementation committee, he said that the committee would work with certain terms of reference.

The committee is expected to convene the national stakeholders’ dialogue on power in the health sector and ensure effective implementation of recommendations from it.

It is to also mobilise resources and attract investments for sustainable electrification of public healthcare facilities, using a whole-of-government approach.

By Felix Mayaki

Nigeria: FG inaugurates committee for a dialogue on power in health sector