The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, has urged Nigerian doctors and other health professionals to strengthen professional discipline, accountability and ethical conduct to restore public trust in the country’s health system.
Salako made the call on Wednesday while delivering the Guest of Honour Address at the opening of the National Executive Council meeting of the Nigerian Medical Association in Abuja.
The meeting, held at the Conference Hall of Barcelona Hotel, Wuse II, had the theme, “Transforming Healthcare Practice in Nigeria: Building Trust, Accountability and Collaborative Excellence.”
The minister, who described himself as both a government official and a practising medical doctor, said the theme was particularly relevant to ongoing efforts to reform the nation’s health sector.
He said trust in healthcare must be earned through consistent professional conduct, measurable performance and accountability to patients, colleagues, employers and the public.
“Trust is not a speech; it is a record,” Salako said.
The minister said the Federal Government’s investments in the health sector under the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative and its Compact with the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory were already producing measurable results.
According to him, implementation of key indicators under the Compact stood at 84 per cent following the 2025 Joint Annual Review, while 35 states and the FCT had completed their Joint Annual Reviews and Performance Dialogues.
Salako also disclosed that the health sector’s share of the national budget had increased to 5.2 per cent, while funding for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund rose from N131.5bn in 2024 to N299bn in 2026.
He said the increased funding had enabled direct financing for more than 8,000 primary healthcare facilities and the upgrading of nearly 4,000 PHCs, resulting in increased utilisation of facilities supported by the fund.
On maternal and newborn health, the minister said the 172 highest-burden Local Government Areas recorded a 17 per cent reduction in maternal deaths and a 12 per cent reduction in newborn deaths under the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative.
He added that more than 48,000 women had received free emergency obstetric care, while over 4,000 free Caesarean sections had been performed in NHIA-empanelled facilities.
According to him, more than 4,700 women had also received free vesico-vaginal fistula repairs across 207 facilities.
Salako said the government had also continued to invest in the health workforce, noting that more than 37,000 workers had been recruited into federal tertiary hospitals since 2024, with about 75 per cent of them in the clinical cadre.
He said special allowances for health workers had been increased, while incentives such as the Medical Residency Training Fund were being implemented.
The minister added that annual medical school admission quotas had been doubled from approximately 5,000 to 10,000.
He further disclosed that N110bn had been committed through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund for the rehabilitation of 18 medical, dental, pharmacy and nursing training institutions.
He said the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration had also been adopted to provide a structured response to the migration of health professionals.
Salako acknowledged the government’s engagement with doctors over welfare and workplace concerns, citing the August 4 meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Resident Doctors.
He assured the NMA that the government would continue to engage constructively with the association and its affiliates, but urged doctors to reciprocate with a stronger commitment to ethical practice and patient-centred care.
The minister warned that unethical practices, including absenteeism, informal payments and the diversion of public patients to private facilities, could undermine public confidence in the health system.
He described trust as “a two-way covenant,” stressing that patients judged the health system based not on government budgetary allocations but on their experiences when they visited healthcare facilities.
“Every naira we invest in the health sector can become discounted by those encounters if the highest sense of duty is not exhibited,” he said.
On accountability, Salako said the government was strengthening systems designed to make performance measurable and transparent through the Sector-Wide Approach, Joint Annual Reviews, Performance Dialogues and direct facility financing.
He added that National Health Fellows and Public Financial Management Officers had been deployed across the 774 Local Government Areas to strengthen monitoring and accountability.
The minister said the Ministry was also implementing a Ministerial Oversight Committee for the BHCPF involving subnational governments, development partners, civil society and the private sector.
He disclosed that the ministry had voluntarily invited the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to participate in its monitoring mechanisms.
Salako urged the NMA to promote stronger clinical governance through effective mortality and morbidity reviews, honest maternal and perinatal death surveillance, monitoring of waiting times and consultant availability, as well as credible disciplinary processes.
He also disclosed that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control had screened more than 7,000 shops and removed 87 truckloads of falsified, banned and expired medical products valued at about N1tn from open drug markets in Aba, Onitsha and Lagos.
On quackery, the minister called on doctors to take the lead in combating the menace and proposed the establishment of a standing joint anti-quackery mechanism involving the Ministry, NMA, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, NAFDAC and security agencies.
He said NMA state branches should serve as a critical surveillance layer in the fight against quackery.
Addressing recent social media reports alleging the existence of an organ-harvesting syndicate in parts of the FCT, Salako said the ministry was closely monitoring the situation.
He disclosed that the National Tertiary Health Institutions Standard Committee had developed National Standards and Guidelines for Organ/Tissue Transplantation, which require informed consent from donors and recipients, facility certification and prohibit commercialisation.
According to him, relevant agencies and parastatals had been directed to support the Nigeria Police in investigating the allegations and establishing the facts.
On task-shifting and task-sharing, Salako said the Federal Government’s policy was aimed at expanding access to healthcare while maintaining patient safety.
He urged professional groups to resolve disagreements over scope of practice through institutional and regulatory mechanisms rather than media confrontations or industrial actions that could compromise patient care.
The minister proposed reciprocal commitments between the government and the NMA, saying the government should be held accountable for honouring its commitments and collective bargaining agreements, sustaining increased health financing, protecting health workers at their duty posts through appropriate legislation and expanding training capacity while maintaining accreditation standards.
He also called for the NMA to have a meaningful voice in decisions on health workforce and scope of practice.
In return, he urged the NMA to strengthen institutional discipline against unethical conduct, ensure industrial action remained a genuine last resort with emergency services protected, lead anti-quackery efforts at state and local levels, and promote inter- and intra-professional respect.
Salako said healthcare transformation could not be achieved by government alone or against the wishes of doctors and other health professionals.
“We can go on measuring each other’s failures with great precision, or we can be measured together by the only indicator that matters: whether the Nigerian who walks into a health facility tomorrow is treated with dignity, gets the care he requires without being impoverished, walks out alive and better than when he walked in,” he said.
The minister, while declaring the meeting open, commended the NMA President, Dr Prof. Afekhide Ernest Omoti, the National Officers Committee, Local Organising Committee and Nigerian doctors for their contributions to healthcare development.
He wished the NEC meeting successful deliberations.