Eminent Nigerians have called for the enthronement of medical excellence in Nigeria’s health sector, a development that would reverse medical tourism outside the shores of the country. As Nigerians spend over N81 billion ($470 million) annually seeking medicare in three major ailments-oncology, renal and heart diseases- having in place adequate human capital in sub-specialties of medicine and infrastructure that meet world-class standards, they say, will ensure Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, becomes a medical haven within the West Africa sub region and beyond.
Yakubu Gowon, former head of state said that over the years, the nation has been beleaguered with a plethora of problem with the health sector, which is a critical sector of the economy being the worst hit, following growing medical tourism.
Gowon disclosed that there is need to work assiduously to reverse the growing lack of confidence in the nation’s health sector as brilliant Nigerian doctors in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, etc. are positively driving the sector of these countries, making them a haven of medical tourism.
“The idea of Nigerian American Medical Foundation International (NAMFI), comprising Nigerian physicians from United States and Canada, experienced and eminent Nigeria-based physicians including retired Nigerian medical professors, to provide medicare to Nigerians on-site in Lagos year-round, on a volunteering basis in over 50 medical and surgical specialties and sub-specialties at Ikeja and Ikoyi, both in Lagos State all-year round is a welcome development.
“While the project is currently designed for non-emergencies and a special referral mechanism in place in NAMFI’s telemedicine system with the finest doctors across the United States for second opinions, diagnostic puzzles and further consultations is something that should be tapped into to improve the human capital in the nation’s healthcare. As soon as human capital is addressed and infrastructure is in place, Nigeria will become a medical haven within the sub-region,” Gowon said at NAMFI 2nd AGM in Lagos.
Christopher Kolade, chairman, former Nigerian ambassador to the United Kingdom, noted that the brain drain of highly-trained medical specialists and sub specialists with the infrastructural ebb in the past twenty-five years has created a generational vacuum of adequate tertiary care in Nigeria.
Kolade stated that NAMFI’s patriotic response to the pain and suffering of at this time in Nigeria’s history by offering volunteering medicare service all-year round, will in no little way, improve health outcomes in the middle-and long- term.
“We have got to a stage in this country where we no longer know who we are. We have lost the skills of our finest doctors in the Diaspora. The NAMFI has decided to do something that is noble. Growing up, I came to understand that doctors have a commitment to their patient. When the doctors and their employer (government) have a disagreement, the doctors’ strike does not affect their employers; it affects those who do not do medical tourism, which is a vast majority of Nigeria’s 160 million people. The sacrifice made by NAMFI that will be beneficial to Nigerians is commendable,” Kolade added.
A peep into medical tourism reveal that forty-seven percent of Nigerians visiting India in the year 2012 did so to get medical attention, while the remaining 53 percent did so for other reasons, figures released by the Indian High Commission have shown. The 47 percent of Nigerians who visited India for medical purposes amounted to 18,000 persons and they expended N41.6 billion ($260 million) in scarce foreign exchange in the process.
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have remained major upsets to Nigeria’s healthcare indices. Stakeholders in the health sector say that there is need to improve access to capital, develop and enforce quality standards, mobilise public and donor money to the private sector, modify local policies and regulations to foster the role of the private sector and foster Risk Pooling Programmes through health Insurance.
No doubt, unlocking the market potential for health services in Nigeria will create an enabling environment for the private sector to grow, thereby ensuring Nigeria itself becomes a destination for medical tourism, rather than a source of exodus.
Alexander Chiejina
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