African countries have been urged to partner with churches, to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030.
The advice was given by the Assistant Executive Secretary of the Ugandan Catholic Medical Bureau, Dr. Renald Kasyaba, who was the Keynote Speaker at the 15th National Conference of the Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners and Africa Regional Conference, in Abuja.
He said that churches have the potential to use their hospitals to provide medical services to people even in the grassroots.
Kasyaba also commended Catholic medical practitioners for all the efforts they put into serving humanity.
While speaking at the conference, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Ignatius Kaigama, said that the conference would give the religious medical personnel the opportunity to deliberate on ways to make their services better.
He said that considering the effectiveness of the Catholic medical practitioners globally and especially in Nigeria, they deserve commendation.
Prioritizing health coverage
The Chairman of the conference, Prof Pat Utomi, urged Nigerian politicians to make Universal Health Coverage a priority.
“If there’s anything that shows that there’s something wrong with our politics, it is that our politicians don’t even get to put things like this on their agenda when they are campaigning. But if anybody is serious about serving the people, this should be a central issue to any elections campaign or electioneering campaign in our country. How do we provide Universal coverage to our people so that we can have a higher quality of life and raise the dignity of the human person”, Prof. Utomi said.
He added that being a Catholic doctor is much more than being an ordinary doctor.
The National President of the Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners, Dr. Mathew Ashiknii, said that the 2021 conference is remarkable as it is concurrently being held with the first ever African Regional Conference of Catholic Doctors.
Effect of Covid-19
He said that the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequence of the lockdown greatly affected health workers globally.
“The pandemic might have affected the progress towards UHC by 2030 and hence the need for the government agencies concerned to integrate Catholic health institutions and other similar facilities so they can complement each other in the provision of essential health services to all Nigerians”, Dr Ashikeni said.
Contributions of Catholic doctors
Also speaking, the Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, said that Catholic doctors have greatly contributed to the wellbeing of Nigerians.
He added that the policies towards achieving UHC are on ground and work needs to be put in to actualise it.
On his part, the Chairman Senate Committee on Primary Healthcare and Communicable Diseases, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, said that the Catholic Church has been one of the greatest contributors to public health in Nigeria.
He said that Catholic doctors work assiduously in Nigerian rural areas to touch lives.
“It is only the Catholic church that has their doctors in the villages attending to patients across the country. It is important that they continue doing the job they are doing“, Utazi said.
He added that he was born in a Catholic hospital in the sixties and till date, he believes that Catholic doctors have committed humans and material resources to mankind.
Awards of excellence were presented to deserving Nigerians and a handbook to guide All Catholic Doctors practice was also presented.
The theme of the 15th National Conference of the Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners and Africa Regional Conference is Universal Health Coverage 2030 and Health Security: The Role of Catholic Doctors.
Nneka Ukachukwu
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