ICPC, Ministry of Health Invoke Conversations on Corruption-Free Primary Health Care System

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Federal Ministry of Health and other critical stakeholders in the health sector converged in Abuja on Thursday to proffer solutions to the high-level of corruption within the health-sector.

At the one-day conference tagged: “Corruption-Free Primary Health Care Delivery for All” held at the ICPC’s headquarters, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Mohammad Ali Pate stated that the challenge in the health sector was systemic and multi-institutional which is also linked to state capacity and individuals.

The Minister affirmed the need for effective collaboration between the ICPC and the Ministry, where a formidable system would be formed to tackle many of the challenges culminating into the corrupt practices in the Primary Health-Care system. “In health, what we are trying to do is to improve the system, save lives, and reduce physical and financial pains for all Nigerians. A lot of the population has access to nothing. So, in the disbursements of these basic needs at the Primary Health-Care level, we’ll be asking the ICPC and other law enforcement agencies to keep an eye, and we’ll be glad to have your team work with the MOC (Ministerial Oversight Committee) Secretariat to look at the facilities of all the disbursement amounts.”

The minister also harped on the importance of accountability in the primary health-care sector, saying with the collaboration of ICPC, deterrence could be put in place to make the sector corruption free. In his remarks, the Chairman of ICPC, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN noted that the conference was organised to stimulate discussions that will help improve service delivery devoid of windows for corrupt tendencies in the Health Sector.

He added that the Commission’s choice of the Primary Health Care in the Federal Capital Territory (F.C.T.) as the pilot for the nationwide conversation was to create a comprehensive template that can be replicated in all the six-geopolitical zones of the federation.