A Nigerian-born Dr Michael Ugwueke, the Chief Executive Officer of Methodist Hospitals, Tennessee, USA has commended the Buhari administration’s efforts in tackling COVID-19.
At a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday, Dr Ugwueke described government’s intervention in containing the pandemic as incredibly successful.
He said he was in the country partly to explore areas of partnership between the Federal Government and the Methodist Hospital especially in complementing efforts of the Buhari administration in transforming the health care system.
Speaking, Prof. Osinbajo said the Federal Government will look into the National Health Insurance Scheme to complement budgetary allocations to the health sector.
The VP said “right now, practically all of the funding for the health care system is from the budget, and for a country this size, 200 million people, it will be extremely difficult to expect that we will resource our health care system purely from the budget.
“The National Health Insurance will be one way of giving us a more substantial pool of resources which we can use not only to improve infrastructure but also improve earnings for personnel.”
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire who was also in attendance said the Federal Government will welcome offers of collaboration from the US-based, Nigerian-born medical expert and hospital administrator.
