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| L-R: Board Member, Health Facility Monitoring
and Accreditation Agency, Mr. Olurotimi Awojide; Executive Secretary,
Dr. Abiola Idowu; State Team Lead for Strategic Purchasing, Family
Planning Project, Dr. Olajide Sobande and Board Member, HEFAMAA, Mr.
Biyi Kufo at the opening of a stakeholders' Session on the Development
of HEFAMAA's five-year Strategic Plan at Jubilee Chalets, Oke-Oyinbo Epe, Lagos. |
The Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency,
HEFAMAA has concluded a 3-day stakeholder session on the development of a
5-year strategic plan to improve the quality of healthcare delivery to the
citizenry.
Speaking on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the
conference held at Jubilee Chalets, Epe, the Executive Secretary of the Agency,
Dr. Abiola Idowu disclosed that the primary aim of the session is to drive the
relevant conversations and reach the right consensus to enable the Agency
re-strategize to achieve its strategic mandate.
She further explained that the session will enable the
Agency review its performance against expectations of key stakeholders and
leading practice, discuss strategic challenges confronting it and articulate
actionable solutions to address them in the present and future even as she
added, “ the stakeholder’s session will help the Agency revalidate and reach a
consensus on the strategic direction, agree on the key anchors for growth over
the planning horizon as well as the key strategies to unlock them.”
“As we envision where we want to be in the next five years,
we are taking steps to reposition HEFAMAA in order to improve the quality of
services rendered to our clients and the general public. This is why we are
focusing on critical areas such as leveraging technology to provide efficient
services, training and retraining of HEFAMAA staff and facility operators,
increasing community participation and health education as well as increasing
our engagements with stakeholders and the general public,” she explained.
While
appreciating the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwoolu for supporting
the stakeholder session Idowu noted that his actions confirm that he is
passionate about the health and wellbeing of the citizenry.
She
however disclosed that the Agency is faced with some challenges including the shortage
of manpower and vehicles to carry out the daily monitoring and inspection of
health facilities in the State adding that the current human resource capacity
of the Agency is inadequate to carry out the mandate efficiently.
“Few of
the challenges we are currently facing include shortage of human resource
although the State Government has approved that we franchise our monitoring
activities to reputable organisations so that we can focus on accreditation and
other responsibilities of the Agency.
We also
need more vehicles to be able to visit health facilities in the State at least
twice a year. It should be noted that HEFAMAA has registered over 4,000 public
and private health facilities and more are still being registered. Our mandate
is to accredit and license as well as monitor and inspect all the health
facilities to ensure they comply with the set standards,” she explained.
The
Executive Secretary also commended Professor Akin Abayomi, the State’s
Commissioner for Health and the entire leadership of the Ministry for their
unwavering support for the Agency’s programmes and activities.
In her welcome remarks, Chairman HEFAMAA Board, Dr. Yemisi
Solanke Koya emphasized the significance of crafting a strategic plan for the
Agency which she believed will go a long way in assisting it to achieve its
mandate.
“We cannot accomplish our mandate without a strategy, so
also we cannot operate without strategic thinking and planning,” she opined.
The Chairman however urged participants to contribute
meaningfully to the discussion to engender a robust strategic plan that will
point the way forward for the Agency in the next five years.
One of the participants, Mrs. Ope Oduwale commended the
State Government for approving the Stakeholders session noting that it will go
a long way in improving the quality of services HEFAMAA renders to the people.
In his own words, State Team Lead for Strategic Purchasing
for Family Planning Project, Health Systems Consult Limited, Dr. Olajide
Sobande observed that the outcome of the conference will boost the capacity of
HEFAMAA in ensuring that healthcare facilities in the State provide effective,
safe, timely, and people-centered services.
Highlights of the conference include presentations on the
Overview of the Lagos State Health Sector; Regulation as a Tool for Quality
Healthcare Delivery; Leading Practice Review; Key Findings from the Current
State Review; The Journey Ahead- Visioning for HEFAMAA amongst others.
The event was well attended by Board members of HEFAMAA,
Partners, Chairmen and members of professional associations and other
stakeholders.
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