PAU Graduates 41 Health Managers

Martins Ifijeh

The Pan Atlantic University, Lagos has graduated the first cohort of 41 participants from its Health Management Program developed by PharmAccess Foundation and Enterprise Development Centre.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Country Director, PharmAccess Foundation, Njide Ndili, urged the graduants to become healthcare ambassadors for good business practices and to carry your knowledge forward to others in their establishment.

She said: “We also welcome more partners to support us in our efforts and in making this healthcare business training a prerequisite to running a healthcare facility, so that many more healthcare professionals can become beneficiaries of it.

“From all of us at PharmAccess Group, we congratulate you as you go forth. We remain committed to supporting you as we build our healthcare industry together.”

She said Pharmaccess has been catalysing the health markets in Nigeria for over 11 years, and has in that time designed and implemented various initiatives.

“Through the Medical Credit Fund, it has provided technical assistance to banks and facilitated the provision of loans to about 400 healthcare businesses amounting to over $5.5million.”

She said in the course of its work, PharmAccess realise the need to build the capacity of healthcare providers to run their businesses as profitable entities.

“This is why it partnered with a reputable institution like Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan Atlantic University to design and deploy the Health Management Program (HMP).”

The HMP is a blended learning certificate program designed to teach healthcare providers about the business of healthcare.

” PharmAccess subsidised the tuition fees for the participants graduating today by 50 per cent. This was done in partnership with Commonwealth Development Centre (CDC), UK. PharmAccess also engaged its partner banks, Diamond and Sterling , to provide support for the program with the aim of making it more affordable to healthcare professionals all over Nigeria,” she added.

The first cohort of the program commenced in December 2017 with 41 participants from the public and private sectors of the healthcare system.

Participants were drawn from Lagos, Owerri, Asaba, Warri, Enugu, Calabar, and Awka.
According to one of the participants, Dr. Babatunde Olujobi, “Doctors are not taught about business in medical school and this program is one of the best things that has happened in the healthcare in Nigeria recent times. The Healthcare sector will remember PharmAccess positively for this.”

Through its robust network and diverse activities, PharmAccess has provided participants in both cohorts of the HMP immense opportunities to partner with Lagos and Delta States to operate health facilities under a public-private partnership arrangement.

This is in line with its vision to strengthen the health systems in Nigeria through an integrated approach.

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