Posted on: Fri 24-04-2015

HIMAN/NAT/36/154

 7^th April 2015

His Excellency,

The President-Elect,

General Mohammadu Buhari Rtd (GCFR)

 

 Excellency Sir,

AGENDA FOR THE PRESIDENT-ELECT, GEN MOHAMMADU BUHARI (GCFR): THE HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA’S PROSPECTIVE

Many years ago, our dear country Nigeria; appeared to be a nation heading to the status of superpowers; but today, the promise has greatly been dashed. Corruption and insecurity have become endemic, our health sector and socio-economic indicators are weak, trailing on many occasion even when compared to our neighbors like Republic of Benin. Our agenda for the incoming administration also reinforces various but excellent proposals from several quarters that places the interest of our country before partisan consideration.  Our proposal are as follows;

ENERGY

Our economy and energy cannot grow fast, if it is power-starved. It is very important that the incoming administration provides alternative energy. One of the important step is greater public investment in setting up power generation capacity, with particular focus on alternative energy. In addition, the government should strengthen National grid for power generation and distribution. Indigenous companies such as, Health Information Technology companies, Textile Industries etc. would thrive if the power is stable. These companies would have suitable platform that will enable them compete favorably with foreign counterparts .Health Information Technology products and other commodities will be produced locally instead of over reliance  on importation, employment opportunities would be created  and prices of commodities would be affordable.

HEALTH

Electronic Health Records (EHR)

(i).  We urge the President- Elect to give priority to Electronic Health Records (EHR) in his overall agenda. Available evidence shows that, Nigeria lags behind other developed countries when it comes to the use of EHR in clinics and the hospitals. The EHR is the technology with the greatest potentials to improving the quality of care and reduce cost by utilizing databases of patient treatment across large population and complex health conditions will benefit from better communication.  The implementation of HER systems will support accurate recording of care given to a patient, diagnostic and procedure information applying medical, clinical terms entered into electronic records, will produce quality information and encourage sharing of data among multiple systems more effectively.

(ii). Address and improve health data collection across the health care system and strengthen reporting system. This will ensure that data are accurately and consistently collected and the Government should also invest in training of staff at all levels.

PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

 

 The primary objective of government policies and action on health is to make health care accessible to Nigerian at an affordable price. There is an urgent need to review the present PPP plan which deny access to health care due to high cost of services and the NHIS on the other hand needs to be properly organized to open Health care services to enrollees.

ICD 10 TRANSITION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Clinical coding is the translation of method of terminology as written by clinician to describe patient’s complaints, problems, diagnosis, treatment or reasons for seeking medical attention in a coded format which is nationally and internationally recognized.

ICD is the acronym for the International Classification of Diseases.  The ICD is maintained by W.H.O to classify diseases and other related health problems recorded on many types of health and vital records. It is used to monitor the incidence and prevalence of diseases and other health problems.

Many Health Institutions in Nigeria do not have any established procedures for classifying and reporting diseases and prevalence’s. Sizeable percentage of health facilities make use of ICD version 9 which does not accommodate newly discovered diagnosis and procedure codes for future clinical protocol that can improve quality measurement, patient safety and evaluate medical outcome as obtained in ICD 10.

The incoming administration should support the implementation and transition of ICD 9 to ICD 10. The transition to ICD 10 is time-sensitive because of the potential risk of ICD 9 to the public health and the need to track, identify, and analyze new clinical services and treatments available to patients.

It is our hope that with appropriate interventions in these areas, health services of this country will be of quality and more reliable.

HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT

Human resource as it relates to health care is the combination of clinical and non-clinical staff responsible for public and individual health intervention. It is the most important of health system input. The performance and benefits that the system can deliver, depend largely upon the knowledge, skill and motivation of health professionals responsible for delivering health services.

The various health policies that support manpower development in the right qualities and quantity must be effectively implemented.

-           Access to medical care should be provided to rural areas with sufficient health professionals to deliver quality services.

-           We also believe in a pluralistic society where individual should be given equal opportunities to occupy and reach the peak of their careers and position of authorities in Ministry of Health, and related parastatals should not be exclusively reserved for a group of professionals.

                -           Better pay for Health Professionals

-           Increase in 1% GDP which is among the lowest in the world.  The spending on health must rise manifold to counter low spending and ensure that critical indicators such as Material Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Immunization for Children do not remain abysmal.

This requires an alignment and share our public health expenditure effectively that connects with expertise and resources of wider partnership.

CORRUPTION

 Our understanding about the fight against corruption requires making all parts of Government systems and transactions more transparent and accountable.

SECURITY

v Indigenize defense production and strengthen intelligence agencies.

v Build energy corridors and improve ties with neighbors and improve our foreign policies.

 It is with great joy that we extend our congratulations to you Sir, on your election as the president of the federal republic of Nigeria. Your election as the president raises high hope that will lead us to the path of greatness. We do not claim to be the ultimate repository of wisdom, there are Nigerians of great integrity, knowledge and experience who should be heard before policies are framed. We are positive that the Nigeria’s society and its economy will develop greatly with your leadership and we wish you great success in your administration of the country.

 

Thank your Sir.

Yours Faithfully,

Wole AJAYI (FHIM)

National President

HIMAN

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