Medical Oxygen Policy Summary

What Is This Policy?

The National Policy on Medical Oxygen in Health Facilities is Nigeria’s foundational framework to reduce morbidity and mortality from hypoxaemia — a life-threatening deficiency of oxygen in the blood — by ensuring equitable, affordable, and quality-assured access to medical oxygen across all tiers of the health system. It transforms medical oxygen from a fragmented, scarce commodity into a systematically governed essential medicine, consistent with the WHO Essential Medicines List, and lays the foundation for sub-national oxygen policies, clinical guidelines, and a national scale-up strategy.

Who Does It Target?

Healthcare providers — doctors, nurses, community health extension workers, and paramedics — across primary, secondary, and tertiary health facilities Biomedical engineers and equipment technicians responsible for oxygen system maintenance State Ministries of Health (SMoH), State Primary Health Care Boards (SPHCB), and Hospitals Management Boards (HMBs) Regulatory agencies including NAFDAC and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Private medical facilities, not-for-profit mission hospitals, and clinical professional associations Bilateral and multilateral development partners, philanthropic organisations, and implementing agencies

What Does It Aim to Achieve?

Scale up accessibility, affordability, availability, and acceptance of pulse oximeters and oxygen therapy across all tiers of health service delivery in Nigeria Establish a national legal and enabling policy environment to guide planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of effective oxygen delivery systems at national and sub-national levels Encourage rational, evidence-based use of oxygen as a prescribed drug to treat all hypoxaemia-related diseases in children and adults Provide the clinical governance framework for appropriate practice, skills strengthening, and hypoxaemia management Contribute to SDG3 targets: reducing under-5 mortality to 25 per 1,000 live births and premature non-communicable disease deaths by one third by 2030

Key Features

Oxygen as Essential Medicine: Medical oxygen formally recognised as a prescribed drug on the WHO Essential Medicines List; all clinical settings must treat it accordingly Clinical Governance Standard: Pulse oximetry mandated as a routine vital sign; any patient with SpO₂ <90% must receive oxygen immediately; prescribing required in all situations Equipment & Maintenance: Functional oxygen delivery systems, pulse oximeters, and oxygen analysers required at all points of oxygen use; maintained by trained biomedical engineers 5-Year National Strategy: A comprehensive national implementation roadmap led by the Oxygen Desk at FMoH, coordinating inter-agency partnerships, monitoring, and scale-up of oxygen systems Training & Competency: Continuous training mandated for all healthcare professionals in oxygen therapy administration, and for biomedical engineers and technicians on equipment maintenance Financing Framework: All tiers of government directed to prioritise oxygen delivery financing through drug revolving funds, state operational budgets, and sustainable public-private partnerships

Current Status

Rollout Stage: Active — policy published 2017; operationalised under the National Strategy for the Scale-up of Medical Oxygen 2017–2022; second strategy cycle covering 2023–2027 now underway Oxygen Infrastructure: At least 30 public sector oxygen plants established nationwide; 21 reportedly functional at baseline; COVID-19 response accelerated repairs and PSA plant commissioning COVID-19 Impact: Pandemic increased oxygen demand seven-fold in Lagos; FMoH repaired PSA plants nationally and worked with industrial producers to repurpose facilities for medical-grade supply Pulse Oximetry Gap: A 2016 multi-state survey found only 3% of primary health centres and 24% of referral facilities had pulse oximeters; scale-up underway through UNICEF and USAID-funded programmes Partnerships: UNICEF–IHS Nigeria 18-month partnership deployed oxygen plants across eight states; USAID EpiC project provided technical assistance across the entire oxygen ecosystem Funding: Federal and state governments directed to integrate oxygen financing into annual budgets, drug revolving funds, and free Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) service schemes

How to Access

Health Facilities: Adopt the National Clinical Guidelines on Medical Oxygen Use; integrate pulse oximetry as a routine vital sign; update Essential Medicines and Equipment Lists accordingly State Governments: Work with SMoH, SPHCB, and HMBs to develop state oxygen plans; allocate budget; train health workers; oversee facility-level compliance with national guidelines Regulatory Agencies: NAFDAC and SON to update registration and importation requirements for oxygen equipment and diagnostics in line with WHO and international standards Private Sector: Engage in public-private partnerships for oxygen generation, equipment maintenance contracts, and financing; contribute to drug revolving fund and sustainability schemes Contact: Federal Ministry of Health — Oxygen Desk, Abuja | fmoh.gov.ng | National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA): nphcda.gov.ng

Important Terms

Hypoxaemia: A life-threatening deficiency of oxygen in the blood (low SpO₂); the primary clinical indication for oxygen therapy in all patient categories SpO₂ Threshold: Patients with SpO₂ <90% must receive oxygen immediately; for severe anaemia, heart failure, shock, or sepsis, oxygen is warranted at SpO₂ ≤94% Medical-Grade Oxygen: Oxygen at minimum 85% saturation as verified by an oxygen analyser; the standard required for safe clinical administration to patients Oxygen Desk: Dedicated coordination unit within FMoH responsible for leading implementation of the national oxygen policy, strategy, and inter-agency partnerships

Impact & Metrics

More than 625,000 deaths occur annually in Nigeria from diseases associated with hypoxaemia — the policy targets systematic reduction of this preventable burden Hypoxaemia is a leading fatal complication of childhood pneumonia, accounting for an estimated 120,000 under-5 deaths per year in Nigeria At baseline, only 4% of primary health centres surveyed had functional oxygen equipment; only 55% of secondary and tertiary facilities provided oxygen therapy Policy implementation is projected to save up to 120,000 under-5 lives annually and accelerate progress toward Nigeria’s SDG3 health targets by 2030

Official Resources

Website: fmoh.gov.ng | nphcda.gov.ng | nafdac.gov.ng Policy Document: National Policy on Medical Oxygen in Health Facilities (2017) — available via the Federal Ministry of Health Contact: Federal Ministry of Health, Oxygen Desk, Abuja, Nigeria Summary prepared using the Policy Summary Template | Source: National Policy on Medical Oxygen in Health Facilities 2017, Federal Ministry of Health Nigeria, CHAI, WHO, Stop Pneumonia Initiative | March 2026

Legal Framework

The National Policy on Medical Oxygen in Health Facilities operates under the National Health Act 2014, the Federal Ministry of Health mandate, and the NAFDAC Act (which regulates medical oxygen as a pharmaceutical product). It aligns with the National Drug Policy, the WHO/UNICEF Oxygen Therapy guidelines for low- and middle-income countries, the SDG 3 targets on quality essential health services, and the WHO Essential Medicines List which includes oxygen.