Nigeria (Commonwealth) _ Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, has urged diasporans to make Nigeria a medical tourism destination.
Dabiri-Erewa made the announcement at the 25th anniversary gala night of a diaspora group established in the United Kingdom, the Nigerian Nurses Charitable Association in the UK.
According to a statement released by NiDCOM spokesperson Abdur-Rahman Balogun on Monday, Dabiri-Erewa praised the nurses and midwives for their charity efforts and encouraged them to continue giving back to society. She expressed hope that Nigerian healthcare professionals in the diaspora, in collaboration with their counterparts in Nigeria, can turn Nigeria into a medical tourism destination.
The chairman, who said that President Bola Tinubu’s government was dedicated to improving healthcare facilities and practices in Nigeria, urged for greater collaboration by developing partnerships for sharing expertise, telemedicine efforts, and skills transfer programs.
Wendy Olayiwola, President of the Association, stated that the members were going to keep providing their expertise through collaborations with medical institutions in Nigeria, emphasizing the importance of creating more platforms for communication and networking in order to foster an atmosphere of collaboration for sharing insights and best practices. Over 80 countries now market themselves as medical tourism destinations. Nigeria is the newest member of the list.
One of the presenters at the recent IMTEC 2013 in Monaco displayed a slide illustrating the countries that now consider themselves to be medical tourism destinations. I believe that was number 65. Members in the audience immediately pointed out that other locations had been left out. The number increased… it passed 70 and was on its way to 80.
Nigeria was one of the countries included to the list. When this country was presented, the audience was taken aback. “Are you serious?” the reaction was.
In its 2009 assessment, the World Health Organization rates the country’s health system 197th out of 200 nations. Nigeria ranks 212th in the world in terms of life expectancy. It ranks 139th in the world in terms of health expenditure as a proportion of GDP. It has the second greatest number of HIV/AIDS fatalities per year. The danger of a serious infectious illness is rated “very high.”
A recent Freedom of Information request in the United Kingdom found that three-quarters of the physicians knocked off the General Medical Council (GMC) register in recent years are foreign-trained, with Nigerians ranking second. UNICEF and WHO have denounced a string of attacks on Nigerian health workers. Last month, the US threatened to cut off $660 million in grant funding to Nigeria due to worries about corruption and the Nigerian government’s recent pardons of corrupt officials.
At IMTEC 2013, I spoke with Maria Todd of Mercury Healthcare, who is now heading a hospital building project in Nigeria. Here’s Maria’s take on the challenges of expanding healthcare facilities in Nigeria, as well as her opinions on Nigeria as a medical tourism destination: “A big worry is security. We were accompanied around by a security crew armed with automatic rifles with “shoot to kill” authorization.
Visitors visiting Nigeria must be safeguarded against communicable illnesses. We were subjected to several vaccines and had negative effects. Our arms ached from tetany cramps, and the treatments were pricey, costing several hundred dollars that were not covered by our health insurance coverage.
Some of the necessities for a basic healthcare infrastructure are lacking in the country. Basic medical diagnostic equipment cannot function adequately without consistent and steady electricity. Rebooting and recalibration of MRI and CT equipment is required. All of this poses significant obstacles to major surgery and life support systems. In Lagos, Lagoon Hospital engaged the help of Apollo Hospital in India to gain JCI certification, which is a minimum standard, not a proof of excellence. It required 7 years of planning and mentoring to complete the project.
