The Honourable Minister of State, Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, has re-stated the resolve of the Federal Government to curb medical tourism by supporting initiatives from individuals and groups to this end.
He made this known during a courtesy visit paid him by a team from CPL Medical Group Ltd. to give him an update on the status of the 3rd phase of the Federal Government of Nigeria/CPL Medical Group Ltd. partnership on the Special Presidential Intervention project to advance the tertiary health sector.
The team, led by the Chairman of the group, Albert Awofisayo, had audience with Dr. Mamora in his office, the Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Secretariat Complex, Abuja.
Following the update, the Minister of State expressed delight at the progress reported by the team in the implementation of the various stages of engagement with the Presidency, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in ensuring that best practices are adhered to in efforts to achieve the desired best standard in the Health Care System in Nigeria.
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He applauded the initiative saying, ‘this is timely, as one of the focal points of this present Administration is to make the Health Care System functional and effective in the interest of the country’.
Dr Mamora noted that medical tourism is not necessarily an outcome of the lack of medical equipment but encompasses a whole lot of things such as, lack of conducive hospital environment and poor attitude of health workers towards health care delivery, etc.
He assured that government is working at entrenching the right standards in terms of attitudinal change and procurement of equipment, pointing out that the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Health is to formulate Government policies on health while implementation involves the relevant stakeholders to enable move the sector to the next level.
Albert Awofisayo stated that the purpose of the visit also included soliciting government’s support towards the successful implementation of the rehabilitation of the 22 Federal University Teaching hospitals and the construction of a green-field 500-bed Federal Centre of Medical Excellence in Abuja.
While appealing that this project be considered as a strategic project score point for the second tenure of this administration, he pledged also that the standard of services to be provided by the 500-bed Federal Centre of Medical Excellence will be of best global standards geared at curbing medical tourism.
He explained that the CPL Medical Group Ltd., a local engineering company, has been involved in the successful rehabilitation of teaching hospitals for almost two decades.
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