Ogun State government has inaugurated a Health Data Governance Council (HDGC), to strengthen the health system information and facilitate effective use of quality data for healthcare development.

The council, chaired by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, comprised her counterpart in the Ministry for Budget and Planning, Mr. Olaolu Olabimtan, Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Health and Hospitals Management Board (HMB), the State Statistician General, the Executive Secretaries of agencies in the health sector, representatives of the National Population Commission (NPC), as well as World Health Organisation (WHO), among others.

Speaking during the inauguration of the Council, at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, Dr. Coker said HDGC at the state level would help navigate effective allocation of resources for healthcare delivery, which had been a challenge over the years, saying this would fast-track Governor Dapo Abiodun's mission to strengthen the state health systems and make qualitative healthcare accessible to residents in rural and urban areas.

Dr. Coker described the availability of quality data as essential to effective formulation of healthcare policies, stressing activities of the Council would position the state for more effective routine healthcare service delivery and response to health emergencies.

"The significance of this inauguration is underscored by the fact that we need to create more efficient data management at the strategic level. Of course, we have data but I must say that it is not quality enough which impacts our ability to formulate policies and allocate resources effectively", she said.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Kayode Oladehinde, said the government was prepared to upscale health data management and governance, calling on members of the council to deploy their experience to the tasks at hand.

Reacting, the State Coordinator, World WHO, Dr. Akinola Fatiregun, appreciated the state government for constituting the Council, saying the body should always emphasise capturing quality data.