LISDEL Engages Gombe State House of Assembly on Gombe’s Progress towards UHC

A two-day capacity development workshop with the theme: Enhancing Salience and Capacity of Gombe State House of Assembly to enhance Gombe’s progress towards attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC) was put together by LISDEL under the Strengthening Government Partnerships and Advocacy for Primary Health Care Optimization in Nigeria (SPAG). The workshop held in collaboration with the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) and other partners.

The overall objectives of the training were to deepen the understanding of the Gombe State Legislators on health financing, UHC and Primary Healthcare objectives and policies; and enhance the application of Legislative functions towards expansion of health financial risk protection mechanisms to target populations, particularly the vulnerable groups in the State.

The workshop had in attendance the Speaker Gombe State House Assembly, members of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Chairman House Committee on Healthcare Services, representative of the WHO, Civil Society Organizations, and the media. The two-day meeting was completely learner centered. The workshop was highlighted using presentations and group work covering UHC, Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR), leadership, governance, and political economy for health systems reform in Nigeria.

The Executive Director of LISDEL Mrs. Juliana Abude-Aribo stated that the upskilling process would provide an avenue for knowledge to be acquired to evaluate progress against set priorities, and tools for effective strategic management and planning for committee effectiveness.

The Speaker of Gombe State House of Assembly, RT. Hon. Abubakar Luggerewo expressed his delight for the opportunity offered to the State by LISDEL and pledged commitment towards the attainment of UHC in the State and mainstreaming gender in the work of the committee.

Commending the Gombe State Legislators, Hon. Dr Tanko Sununu, Chairman, House Committee on Healthcare Services, emphasized the need for State assemblies to align with the National Assembly, the Executives, and the Local Government to revitalize the health sector.

Dr Chris Isokpunwu, the Director of the BHCPF Secretariat talked extensively about BHCPF and its specific objectives, expatiating on a new emergency medical response initiative that will provide ambulance dispatch to injured victims and ensure families have guaranteed access to treatment in emergency situations irrespective of socio-economic status. This would ultimately end an era of requests made by healthcare facilities to patients and their families for cash deposits before healthcare is provided to patients in emergency situations. The norm of being refused service will become a thing of the past.

Barr. Usman Ibrahim of the National Institute for Legislative Studies emphasized the need for legislators to apply their statutory functions by extensively engaging their clerks in Primary Healthcare (PHC) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) optimization. He highlighted the need for legislators to delegate activities so as to free up time for Legislative matters.

Dr. Gafar Alawode, of Development Governance Initiative (DGI) and member of the Board of Directors of LISDEL appreciated the Speaker and members of the House of Assembly on their commitment to move the healthcare sector forward and how that desire translated into the tangible progressive growth of Contributary Health Scheme, GoHealth, making it the fastest growing so far.

Chika Offor, LISDEL’s Gender Specialist, explained why women need to be involved in advocating for RMNCAH-N priorities, as they and young children are the most vulnerable in the society. She expatiated using personal stories of vulnerable families which resulted in loss of lives, which could have been averted if they had access to a functional Primary Health Care (PHC) centre and not asked to pay before service delivery.

At the end of the program, Mr Ademuyiwa Damilola, Program Manager LISDEL, thanked the members of Gombe State House of Assembly for their presence, and commitment. He also thanked LISDEL’s partners who made the program possible.

By Philip Akoso, LISDEL