Monrovia -The Healthcare Federation of Liberia (HFL), a newly founded organization, has held its first Ministerial Stakeholder Forum (MSF) with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to establish a public, private sector partnership aimed at working together to improve the provision of quality healthcare delivery system in the country.
The meeting, which was attended by officials of both the private and public healthcare providers, was held on February 13, in the Health Minister’s conference room in Congo town.
According to Dr. Amit Thakker, head of the African Health Business (AHB), the Ministerial Stakeholder Forum (MSF) is established in several countries around the world.
The Ministry of Health of every country sitting will serve as the senior administrator of the board of the Healthcare Federation of Liberia in order to open the environment to discuss the challenges and potential solutions in the health sector.
Dr. Thakker acknowledged the concerns of the Ministry in several areas that they have been engaging the private sector including the area of sanitation.
He promised that the coming into existence of the federation will seek to address some of those major concerns facing the country.
He added that with the cooperation of the Ministry of Health and Federation’s membership comprises private, public healthcare institutions; the provision of the quality healthcare services is sure.
Chairing the meeting on behalf of Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah, Liberia Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francis Kateh welcomed the move by the group and added that the establishment of the Federation comes at the time the country needs to begin working together to serve humanity.
Dr. Kateh disclosed that some of the country’s major health issues in recent years came from the private sector.
He stressed that to see the very sector coming to ask for a partnership to work together in making sure that the healthcare delivery is improved, “is something that worth commending”.
Also speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister for Administration of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Norwu Howard stressed the need for proper accountability.
Dr. Howard added that the ministry has been dealing with several other organizations in the private sector but there has been no accountability.
Meanwhile, Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer assured the members of the Healthcare Federation of Liberia and the Ministerial Stakeholder Forum that the Ministry of Health is committed to working with the Federation and the Forum to achieving its goal.
