OUTSOURCING AND THE PERFORMANCE OF FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTRES, OWERRI AND UMUAHIA, SOUTHEAST, NIGERIA (2014-2021)

Abstract

Nigeria as a signatory to the United Nation’s (UN) Millennium Development Goal on health has over the years adopted various health care reforms to achieve this goal, among which was the introduction of the National Outsourcing Policy and Regulatory Framework for Nigeria (NOPRFN) in January, 2022. Sixteen years after the NOPRFN was introduced, it became imperative to ascertain the extent of its success. Hence, the major objective of study therefore, was to examine the effect of outsourcing on the performance of the Federal Medical Centres (FMC), Owerri in Imo State and Umuahia in Abia State, Southeast, Nigeria (2014-2021). The research was guided by two hypotheses which were drawn from the statement of problem and the objective of study. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design and data were sourced from both the primary (questionnaire and the interview) and secondary sources available. Simple statistical methods such as table, frequencies and percentage were used to analyze the responses from the questionnaire and multi-paragraph summary was used for the interview while chi-square (X²) and Horizontal Analysis were used to test the hypotheses formulated. The findings indicated that outsourcing has effect on management control system in Federal Medical Centres (FMCs), Umuahia and Owerri, due to the fact that the chi-square test results from the responses of the staff in FMC Owerri and Umuahia show that the calculated figures of 4.354 and 3.192 are greater than the Chi-square table values of 0.859 and 0.526 respectively. More so, the study found out that outsourcing has improved the financial management of Federal Medical Centres (FMCs), Umuahia and Owerri, reason being that the both organisations had five years of surpluses and two years of deficits each, of their financial statements in the years under review for the study. Finally, the study recommended among other things that managements should employ, monitor and maintain an adequate management control System in order to enhance their level of effectiveness, improve their revenue and enhance the overall performance of their organization.