Absence of proper business structure bane of Nigeria’s healthcare sector

Nigeria has ambition to put its estimated 190 million populations under the universal health coverage, a target that has eluded the nation but that is hardly the country’s only challenge.

The health care workforce is facing a critical shortfall of health professionals over the next decade as the brain drain in the sector has reached alarming proportions. Patients are facing increasing wait times, limited access to providers, reduced time with caregivers, and decreased satisfaction.

Worse still, many of the private hospitals functioning are not sustainable as they lack the proper structure to run profitable healthcare businesses.

“A better model for private healthcare delivery is the ‘Healthcare as a business’ model. In this model, the practice of medicine is just a component part of the healthcare delivery model,” said Richardson Ajayi, a gynaecologist and the executive vice chairman of Bridge Clinic.

According to Ajayi, “In this model other professionals are embedded in the healthcare ecosystem: financiers, equipment suppliers, diagnostic service providers, insurance providers, etc. This is better achieved when the business of healthcare is modelled as a partnership or as a limited liability company with proper governance and other non-medical shareholders.

“The problem with Nigeria is that, we combine practicing medicine with the business of healthcare because nobody is looking at the business of healthcare.

“If you decide to focus on the profession of medicine, focus on your core competence by being the best doctor and by outsources your complexity (operations). If you want to focus on the business of healthcare, build an ecosystem that is sustainable and ranges beyond your skills and experience, and see yourself primarily as a business manager”, said Ajayi.

Experts say the health care workforce is facing increased stress and instability, and a major restructure of the professionalism is needed to extend care to millions of Nigerians

“In developed economies, we allow people who know about business to manage healthcare while doctors fit into the system to provide healthcare but that does not happen in Nigeria yet and until we start to create separation where people who are managing healthcare are expert, then doctors can now be the best they can be. It is a conversation we need to have because it happens in all other developed countries and by having the conversation we can move in that direction.

“We need to create primary and secondary healthcare chains, hospital groups, there are opportunities for consolidations because our healthcare in Nigeria is fragmented. The model will consolidate economy of scales and also get distribution by allowing more access to healthcare at lower cost,” added Ajayi.

ANTHONIA OBOKOH