Experts have charged stakeholders to address challenges limiting the expected progress in the healthcare system in the country.
With the stringent current economic conditions, which is reducing disposable income, Nigerians are now resorting to self-medication for treatment of their ailments.
Speaking at a media training put together by Leadway Assurance in Lagos for Members of Nigerian Association of Insurance & Pension Editors (NAIPE), Oluwafemi Awoleye, Team Lead, Commercial Business at Leadway Health identified difficulty in accessing healthcare services or seeing doctors, brain drain of medical professionals and shortage of healthcare workers, inadequate funding, poor investment in infrastructure and technology and issues with the mode of reimbursement to hospitals as some of the gaps.
Others are delay in claims payment to hospitals and broken pharmacy supply chain, leading to lack of medication at hospitals, urging journalists to amplify these issues through their different media organisations.
Awoleye warned that if the aforementioned gaps are not met, such poses a serious threat to the health and wealth of the country, since the output of every economic activity is a function of good health of its human capital.
Leadway health urged the media to play a more proactive role by holding policymakers accountable and driving public awareness that could spur meaningful reforms.
He stressed that the media remains a powerful catalyst for change, capable of shaping public discourse, influencing policy decisions and promoting evidence-based reporting on critical health challenges. He maintained that sustained and responsible journalism would not only expose systemic deficiencies but also spotlight innovative solutions, mobilise stakeholders and strengthen the collective push towards a more accessible, equitable and resilient healthcare system in Nigeria.
“The media can inquire about the level of compliance on the ground. Are employers in every State actually enrolling staff – or treating it as paperwork? Where does the money go? How are capitation and fee-for-service increases changing provider behaviour and quality?”
Meanwhile, the Group CEO, Billsbox Services Limited, Dr. Monday Ashibogwu said AI is not a destroyer, but anyone can be destroyed using AI carelessly.
Speaking on the topic, Publishing in an Era of Artificial Intelligence, Ashibogwu charged journalists to protect their credibility in the age of synthetic media and strive to identify opportunities and threats Al presents and explore all with wisdom.
“While integrating Al into newsroom operations, we must use Al responsibly in content creation and develop an Al strategy for sustainable publishing”
He noted that Artificial Intelligence will not replace journalists, but Journalists who use Artificial Intelligence will replace those who don’t. “AI can aid in investigations and boost productivity, however journalists must be circumspect”
He urged journalists to watch against hallucinations, fabricated quotations, deep fakes, plagiarism, copyright violations, privacy breaches, manipulation, misinformation, and the worst of it, loss of public trust.
The expert outlined an action plan for publishers and content creators: “Develop an Al policy, train newsroom staff on Al use, adopt Al responsibly across teams, create verification procedures, review copyright compliance, and experiment with Al tools. Because the future belongs neither to traditional journalism nor to artificial intelligence alone. It belongs to journalists who combine human wisdom with machine intelligence” he added.
