By Muhammad Amaan
The Chairperson of the Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC) Nigeria, Dr Muhammed Lecky, has called for shifiting focus from budgetary provisions for planned health interventions to timely and complete release of funds to support implementation and achieve tangible results.
In his goodwill message at the opening ceremony of the 2025 Joint Annual Review (JAR) of the Health Sector in Nigeria, Dr Lecky reiterated that there is urgent need to shift focus from mere budgetary provisions to for planned health interventions to release of funds to support implementation.
He drew attention to the widening divide between the public and private health sectors, and called for intentional efforts to bridge the gap and address the fragmentation in service delivery across the sector.
Dr Lecky reminded participants of the transparency and accountability components embedded in sector activities.
The chairperson also emphasised that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have the mandate to ask critical questions and ensure better health outcomes for every naira spent.
He also highlighted the abysmally low number and poor skill mix of human resources for health, the weak essential medicines management system, and low availability of equipment—particularly within the Primary Health Care (PHC) subsector.
Dr Lecky raised several thought-provoking questions about the state of the public health sector, urging it to rise to its potential and mandate to serve as a model for effective and efficient operations.
