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The Federal Government has taken a significant step towards revolutionizing healthcare delivery in Nigeria by inaugurating the implementation committee for the country’s digital health initiative. This initiative aims to establish a robust national digital health environment that will facilitate the scaling up of digital health interventions across the nation.
The implementation committee, comprising 20 members, will play a crucial role in midwifing data policy, regulation, repository management, and acting as an ombudsman to oversee the seamless integration of digital health technologies. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony in Abuja, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, highlighted the transformative potential of digitization in healthcare, emphasizing its role in enhancing patient experience, data protection, and overall health outcomes.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who chairs the committee, underscored the challenges posed by the lack of uniform data collection and management within Nigeria’s healthcare system. He stressed the holistic approach of the digital health initiative, encompassing data gathering, repository management, service regulation, and beyond the conventional Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Electronic Health Record (EHR) platforms.
The national unified EMR platform, a key component of the initiative, will serve as a central hub for enhancing health system efficiency, monitoring public health and disease outbreaks, facilitating seamless data exchange, and fostering opportunities for research. Alausa outlined the pilot phase, which will commence at federal tertiary hospitals and expand to one state per geopolitical zone to assess efficiency and accuracy before nationwide adoption.
The initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s vision for the healthcare sector, aiming to establish an effective and sustainable healthcare system that ensures Universal Health Coverage for all Nigerians. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Daju Kachallom, emphasized the initiative’s potential to save lives, reduce physical and financial burdens, and promote health equity, echoing the strategic pillars outlined in the Strategic Vision for the Health Sector (2023 – 2026).
