Nigeria will employ 28,000 Nigerian health workers on USAID payroll, says Health minister

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate, said weekend the Federal Government was planning to engage 28,000 health workers previously being paid by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Pate said the government was ready to take ownership of the country’s healthcare sector amid the change in the policy of the US government.

US President Donald Trump had recently ordered a funding pause for HIV treatment in developing countries, as part of an executive order on foreign aid.

The executive orders also affected the operations of USAID and other foreign interventions of the US government.

Consequently, the US Department of State suspended the disbursement of funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief, PEPFAR. PEPFAR is providing HIV treatment for more than 20 million people living with the disease in Nigeria and globally, including 566,000 children under 15 years of age.

However, the joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS in a statement had said the US government approved a waiver that allowed people living with HIV to continue accessing treatment.

Recall that the Federal Executive Council, FEC, recently approved an allocation of N4.5 billion for the procurement of HIV treatment packs to support Nigerians living with HIV/AIDS.

Speaking further, the health minister said Nigeria has not invested heavily in the healthcare sector, adding that President Bola Tinubu’s administration was ready to change the narrative. He said more than 70 perent of the medications being used in Nigeria were imported, adding that the country also imported more than 99 per cent of its medical devices.

Pate said 30 per cent of the country’s health expenditure came from the government, while 70 per cent were from private individuals.

He noted that while part of the government’s healthcare expenditure was funded by external donors, foreign funding didn’t make up the largest portion of the country’s healthcare spending. The minister acknowledged the role played by the US government in supporting the country’s healthcare.

While advising the federal and state governments to fill the gaps created by the suspension of US aid and reduce foreign dependence, Pate said: “Quality healthcare is not cheap. We, as a country, have not invested in it yet and we are asking for the highest quality healthcare.

“Domestically, we have not invested. We have, since things changed in the last 18 months, with the deliberate efforts to improve investments and allocate investments to where it matters, the foundation. “Can you believe that more than 70 per cent of our drugs, we import them with foreign exchange that we don’t really have.

“We are a capable country and we are determined to own up to that responsibility. If others step in and support us, we appreciate it but we are not begging.

“There are health workers, 28,000 of them who are being paid through US government support. While it has been appreciated, these health workers are Nigerian, we have to transit them.

“Our approach, long before the change in US policy, has been to increase national ownership.”