In celebration of its 10th anniversary, AXA Mansard health limited on Thursday organised a webinar session that focused on the challenges surrounding health care in Nigeria.
Wrapped in the theme “Wellvolution; health for the wealth of our nation”.
Rashidat Adebisi, Chief client officer, Axa Mansard, who moderated the event said that Nigerians are all facing significant socio-economic challenges and as a social responsibility, the company is taking up the task to reinforce and highlight wellness issues because it is important when we think about sustainable prosperity within the country.
According to her, AXA Mansard wants to drive attention on the urgency to drive universal health coverage for Nigerians.
Adebisi highlighted the big wide gap in health Insurance coverage in Nigeria, especially for younger adults in the rural area.
This informed the decision of AXA Mansard to organise this session, inviting speakers and panellists, who shared perspectives from their different fields of expertise, to drive awareness on this pressing need.
Pat Utomi, a professor of economics and speaker at the event said that it does not matter how much industrial progress a country has made if its citizens are being hit by an epidemic, emphasizing that the inequality amongst nations is significantly affected by the quality of healthcare in that country.
Illustrating the story of Steve Jobs and how he was lost in the peak of his productivity, Utomi said “every country that wants economic growth should find a way to solve the problem of healthcare in the most cost effective way”.
The panellists discussed key notes from the four critical perspectives; the employer, private sector, and the government perspectives. As well as the HR, investor, and the health care provider perspective.
Speaking on how tech can impact healthcare in Nigeria, Iyin Aboyeji, Investor and Techpreneur said that one of the healthcare challenges we are having in Nigeria is that we are trying to build a modern system on an outdated infrastructure.
He noted that the increasing out flux of health professionals from the country can be managed through the diagnosis route where equipment can be easily handled by non-health professionals.
“We are thinking about how to make diagnosis cheaper, and increase remote consultations,” Aboyeji said.
Misbah Oleolo, Chief medical director, One health ltd, said that the biggest issue in the Nigerian healthcare sector is the lack of brain gain, and emphasized the need for the country to prioritize bringing back the health professionals rather than fighting brain drain.
Glory Ibeziako, Ass. Head of people performance management and culture, KPMG, urged employers to invest in health care insurance and establish a system that promotes wellness education amongst employees.
Speaking on the strategies that can draw over 200 million people into the health safety net, Yakubu Agada said the health sector should look at mandatory aspects of health insurance, which could also serve as a financing mechanism to the health system.
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