The Edo State Ministry of Health, PharmAccess Foundation, and healthcare providers, hold a 2-day Health Care Standards Validation workshop to establish comprehensive regulations and standards for the health sector in the state.
Led by Commissioner for Health, Prof. Obehi Akoria, this workshop was the culmination of months of meticulous groundwork initiated by the Governor. The aim was to revolutionize healthcare regulation and foster a positive transformation across all levels of the sector – Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary care, as well as public and private providers.
The Commissioner said: “The State government realized that in order to provide the sort of health care services and results that both the Governor of the State and the people want, it needed to change the way it went about looking at the laws, procedures, data, and health care outcomes.
“It was crucial that the stakeholders examine the standards that had been created in conjunction with PharmAccess Foundation while doing this.
“”The Ministry of Health would grant a 3-month period to practitioners to put procedures in place to identify the gaps between the agreed-upon standards and their current practices following the standards validation workshop, during which the minimum practice infrastructural process and outcome standards for Edo State would have been agreed upon.
Prof. Akoria claims that among other things, the criteria encompass services related to pharmaceuticals, medicine, optometry, funeral and embalming, and nursing.
“Systems to fix such gaps are also anticipated to be implemented within these three months. Public sector regulation is equally as important as private sector regulation.” she added.
Dr. Stanley Ehiarimwian, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, presented the goals of the directorate of regulation and monitoring. These goals included ensuring that only qualified health personnel operate within the state, delivering exceptional care to clients in adherence to the highest standards enshrined in relevant laws and guidelines.
With the paradigm shift, there will be robust enforcement of standards, imposing significant penalties on violators. Accurate data on healthcare facilities and their statuses will be readily available, fostering transparency. Moreover, the reform efforts in the health sector will be sustained, leading to effective collaboration among all agencies under the ministry of health.
Dr. Ibironke Dada, the Program Director for Safecare at PharmAccess Foundation, emphasized that the standards validation workshop is a pivotal step towards implementing regulatory standards for all healthcare providers in Edo State. This milestone paves the way for a brighter future, ensuring improved healthcare regulation across the state.
The workshop witnessed engaging breakout sessions where healthcare providers carefully scrutinized the existing standards, aiming to amend and make recommendations to align with global best practices.
