The Ekiti State Government has partnered Massachusetts Institute of Technology Governance Laboratory (MIT/GOVLAB) for improved healthcare delivery that would give more dividends to patients and service seekers in the state.
The agreement was formally reached, on Tuesday, in Ado Ekiti, during the official launching of a system called Governance Innovation Lifecycle Challenge and Accelerator, a programme designedto improve patient-driven healthcare services in Ekiti.
Speaking during the launch of the programme, Governor Kayode Fayemi, said with this partnership, an Information and Technology platform can be provided where patients andthose patronising the primary, secondary and tertiary health institutions can make complaints on the qualities of services they are getting.
Fayemi said: “Healthcare as a core driver for human capital development, is a key focus of my administration and we have demonstrated this by implementing a suite of high impact healthinterventions that address the needs of our people.
“We have done this knowing full well thatinvestments in health, is the most valuable returns and I am confídent that the Governance Innovation Lifecycle Challenge and Accelerator will be a great complement to these investments both now and in the foreseeable future.
“Under the accelerator programme, MIT GOV/LAB and its implementing partners, Gatefield and Co- creation Hub, will work with the quality of care and health security teams in the Ekiti State Ministry of Health to develop prototypes ofgovernance innovations that will strengthen the State’s health system and resilience.
“In view of this, we decided to put innovation at the core of driving solutions in the health sector.Working with our partners, two teams in the State Ministry of Health will use the human-centred design approach to develop a set of gender- sensitive monitoring tools, which allows the Stateto track citizen engagement, provide feedback on the state’s public health response efforts and establish a complaints-handling system that willaddress any healthcare-related omplaints from members of the community.
“Ireally look forward to the state going through with this challenge and coming up with ground- breaking solutions that will transform health service delivery in the state”
The Associate Director of Innovation at MIT GOV/LAB, Carlos Centeno, said that the accelerator willimplement the methodology of it’s novel Governance Innovation Framework with the teams for an eight-month period. The program willprovide holistic support from knowledge building through solution development.
“At the end of the accelerator phase, the selected prototype will be developed into a full-fledged technology product. The aim of this framework is to improve the provision of public services, respond to the needs of citizens, increasegovernment effectiveness and drive positive change in individual and collective behaviours” he said.