The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, has revealed that National Diaspora Health Impact Initiative, (NDHII), has saved 10,000 Nigerian lives and trained 2,000 Frontline health workers in the 6 geopolitical zones.
He made this known during the National Diaspora Merit Award on Saturday in Abuja, with the theme “Harnessing Global Diaspora Medical Expertise to Strengthen Local Health Systems for National Development”.
Dr Salako emphasized that the UK-based obstetricians, paediatricians and midwives from the Medical Association of Nigerians Across Great Britain (MANSAG) and the Nigerian Nurses Charitable Association UK (NNCA-UK) have been in Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto States and invested several millions of naira in personnel and material resources to train over a thousand frontline healthcare workers in the Safer Births Bundle of Care (SBBC) thus putting the same evidence-based approach that has saved lives in British labour wards in the hands of nurses and midwives in high-burden communities of our North-West.
According to him, Enugu, Imo and Abia, doctors from the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), invested several thousand USD to run specialist missions with 4,000 medical consultations, over 500 surgeries performed while training 350 health workers and 150 community responders.
The Minister said the ministry has reaffirm commitment to continue work with diaspora health professionals, simplifying licensing, locum, diaspora clinicians, customs and visa waivers, invest in hospitals building, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical industries, other healthcare investment on Nigerian soil.
Dr Salako states that government is committed in removing the practical bottlenecks of registration, licensing, logistics that have historically made it difficult for diaspora professionals to give back.
He highlighted that diaspora health professionals has consulted, treated, operated, trained, mentored, and gave free skills in teaching and general hospitals from Lagos and Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Borno, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Nasarawa, Gombe and the Federal Capital Territory.