THE Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has revealed that Nigeria loses over $1 billion, an equivalent of N400 billion, annually to medical tourism.
Ehanire made the disclosure during the opening ceremony of Grays Cardiology Centre, the first comprehensive cardiology centre in Lagos Mainland established by Reddington Healthcare Group in GRA Ikeja.
The minister, who lamented the continued lack of faith in the national health system and the attendant financial implication of seeking healthcare services in other lands, said that “medical tourism is one of the major contributors to foreign exchange depletion, to the tune of $1 billion annually”.
Disclosing that challenges such as “inequitable distribution of facilities, limitation of material, financial and human resources for health, poor attitude to work in the public health care sector, strike actions and inter-professional discord” were responsible for the lack of confidence in the national health system, the minister said that the federal ministry of health was working assiduously to regain confidence in the health sector.
Speaking he said, “The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) is furthering the revitalisation of nearly 10,000 primary health care centres (PHCs) in Nigeria, at least 1 in every political ward, working with states and our development partners, to rebuild the National Health System from the foundation, including plans for a referral system to relay patients through secondary to tertiary facilities”.
Ehanire who lauded the initiative of a state-of-the-art cardiac centre said that the Buhari-led administration was committed to rebuilding the health system through private sector engagement.
“Government desires to encourage more private sector participants in health care delivery. The injection of private capital, management skills, innovation and discipline should lead to the modernisation of health care delivery in Nigeria and overall improvement of the health system.
“The FMoH, through the department of public-private partnership (PPP) and diaspora, is keen to collaborate and partner with private health care providers and Nigerian health care experts in the diaspora in what Mr President calls “knowledge and skills repatriation”.
The Chief Executive Officer of Reddington Healthcare Group, Dr Yemi Onabowale said that the centre will be “dedicated to the practice and teaching of cardiovascular medicine”.
“The Grays Cardiology Centre will offer services covering non-invasive and interventional procedures, heart diagnostic procedures, cardiac rehabilitation, intensive coronary care, telementry services, heart care education, amongst others.”
The Medical Director of the new centre, Dr Soe Moe Aung, gave his assurance that the latest medical technology in cardiology will be used to provide the expertise to ensure that all patients receive world-class medical care.
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