Health coverage: Hope brightens with Ehanire’s arrival
Following swearing in exercise by president Muhammadu Buhari which took place two days ago at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has assumed his official duties as the Minister of Health, the important sector that has the potential to make or mar Nigeria’s development.
Dr Ehanire is not new to leadership in the Nigerian health sector as he served as Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health between 2015-2019 where he forged a close working relationship with Professor Isaac Adewole, the former Minister of Health.
Dr Ehanire who resumed work immediately after he was sworn-in expressed his desire to key into the agenda of Mr. President for the Health Sector.
He pledged that his focus is to expand the health coverage, particularly the Primary Health Sector; Improvement in the quality of Medicare in hospitals; improving the indices in health security in the country amongst others.
To achieve that, Dr Ehanire restated his resolve to work in synergy with all relevant Stakeholders to move the sector forward.
“We must change certain things by working together with the agencies”.
The minister is not new to the health space and is expected to bring his vast experience and knowledge of the sector to help Nigerians live healthier and more productive lives.
The Minister of Health and Minister of State for Health were able to forge a collaborative working relationship during their just-concluded four-year tenure. Nigeria’s Ministry of Health has been described as one of the most complex, with well over 100 mini-parastatals, given that every tertiary health institution has its own board and management.
Therefore, the opportunity of having a Minister who already understands the system, the challenges and bottlenecks is a major advantage for Dr. Ehanire’s tenure.
Dr Ehanire is a surgeon and holds a medical degree from the College of Medicine, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Germany.
He also holds post graduate diplomas from the teaching hospital of the University of Düsseldorf and Essen, Germany in the areas of anaesthesiology, general surgery, and orthopaedic trauma surgery.
He has served on various boards both within and outside Nigeria, including Chair of the Board of Trustees of the TY Danjuma Foundation.
Before going into administration, he had an illustrious clinical career – he was Senior Registrar Clinical Instructor, University of Benin Teaching Hospital; Member of the old Bendel and Edo States Hospital Management Board; Consultant Surgeon, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria;
Clinical Course instructor, Fracture Internal Fixation course at the BG Accident Hospital, Duisburg, Germany. He co-authored the orthopaedic book “The severely injured limb” edited By John Ackroyd.
Earlier this year, we published a blog piece that highlighted key priority areas for Nigeria’s health sector in 2019. This included polio eradication, better private sector engagement, primary health care, maternal and child health, epidemic preparedness and universal health coverage.
