The problems of healthcare delivery in Africa

Below are some of the problems identified as the bane of successful healthcare delivery in Africa .

Hospitals and Clinics

• No standardized treatment protocols are available for common ailments
• Lack of structured training programmes for healthcare professionals.
• Lack of ethics - dubious motives for setting up of clinics and hospitals
• Lack of financial support for doctors from banks
• Lack of management and admin skills by qualified medical practitioners.
• Lack of regulation - leading to competition from quacks - herbalists, drug vendors and poorly trained and unlicensed traditional birth attendants.

Pharmacy and Essential Medicines

• Fake drugs are a real menace
• Lack of regulation of the importers of pharmaceuticals
• High barriers to entry to newly qualified pharmacists
• Lack of proper training for personnel involved in distribution and sale of medicines
• Lack of synergies between different cadres of personnel - patent medicine, chemists etc

Diagnostics and Pathology Services

• Lack of infrastructure and investments in standardised laboratories and pathology services
• Lack of regulation and control of existing providers
• Lack of proper training programmes for providers

 

Healthcare Finance

• A high prevalent interest rate.
• Poor performance of loans.
• A generally high rate of credit default.
• Long-term nature of healthcare businesses.
• Lack of long-term perspectives by banking institution on healthcare investments