President Muhammadu Buhari says stronger partnership with the private sector will help in improving health facilities and easy access to them.
He stated this at the virtual groundbreaking ceremony of African Medical Centre of Excellence, AMCE, a landmark hospital project that will significantly transform the healthcare sector in West African.
The President said the challenges faced in the health sector would require collective will, partnership and more resources, especially in tackling brain-drain.
President Buhari said apart from providing comprehensive care across the three critical care areas, the AMCE would offer educational services to develop talent, and establish itself as a world-class research centre, in partnership with global institutions such as the Kings College Hospital and Christies Hospital in the United Kingdom.
President Buhari thanked the management of Afreximbank, a Pan-African multilateral trade finance institution created in 1993, under the auspices of the African Development Bank, and its partners for their commitment to Africa, and for the action-oriented approach to resolving the challenges that the continent faces on its path to development.
He said the rising cases of non-communicable diseases in Africa were well established, adding that cardiovascular ailments, cancers and haematological disorders have increasingly become matters of concern to public healthcare.
The President noted that those ailments were now the highest contributors to non-communicable disease mortalities, representing more than 81 percent of all non-communicable deaths, NCD, in West Africa.
President Buhari observed that the rising NCD burden, coupled with inadequate medical infrastructure on the continent, had been threatening the future of people in the sub-region.
The health project is being implemented by African Export–Import Bank, Afreximbank, in partnership with the Federal Government, Kings College Hospital, London, University of Winsconsin Teaching Hospital, USA and Christies Hospital, Manchester.
End Bello Wakili