PERMANENT SECRETARY’S OPENING REMARKS AT THE VALIDATION OF HEALTH SECTOR COVID-19 PANDEMIC ACTION PLAN
The Honourable Minister of Health, the Honourable Minister of State for Health, Directors and Heads of Agencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. Good morning all. May I use this opportunity to welcome all of us to this important occasion of validation of Health Sector COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan.
The initial strategy which was built around a strong command and leadership geared towards the containment of the outbreak in order to ensure that we do not experience community transmission of COVID-19.
While the response efforts and commitment of the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies, especially the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), the Port Health Services and other critical role players under the able leadership of the Honorable Minister of Health, have been commendable, available data indicate that we are now at the stage of community transmission of the new corona virus. It has therefore become critical that we make every necessary efforts to ensure that we:
a. Strengthen and retool our coordination efforts
b. protect our communities and the nation at large,
c. Secure existing health services and health gains
d. Break transmission.
e. Strengthen existing response institutions and continue to build the capacity to detect and manage any cases that may arise as we continue to expand our capacities.
f. Strengthen and engage with the Health System at Sub-national levels
The document will be instrumental to our response going forward and it is expected to serve as a common path for all health sector response. I want to thanks all DPAs for their contributions while putting this document together.
I thank you all for coming.
