*As Reddington Launches Cardiology Centre In Lagos
By Chioma Umeha
Worried by the tide of huge medical capital
flight, a major contributor to foreign exchange depletion in the country,
Reddington Healthcare Group has inaugurated the Grays Cardiology Centre in
Lagos.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the centre,
the first comprehensive cardiology clinic in Lagos Mainland, Dr. Osagie
Ehanire, the Minister of State for Health, said that Nigeria loses over $1
billion, an equivalent of N400 billion, annually to medical tourism.
Ehanire 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”.
He also identified limited access, inequitable
distribution of facilities, limitation of both material, financial and human
resources for health, poor attitude to work, strikes and inter-professional
discord and limited affordability for the average citizen as challenges
plaguing the health sector.
The Minister however assured that the Federal
Ministry of Health was working assiduously to regain confidence in the health
sector.
“The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) is
furthering the revitalisation of nearly 10,000 primary health care centres
(PHCs) in Nigeria, at least one in every political ward. We are 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,” the Minister added.
While praising the initiative of a high-tech
cardiac centre, he said that the Buhari-led administration was committed to
rebuilding the health system through private sector engagement.
Ehanire said: “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.”
According to him, the Grays Cardiology Centre sets
the bar higher as it goes beyond the routine, to bring state-of-the-art
diagnostic and intervention capacity to Nigeria.
“We are proud that services that would have been
found only in the top hospitals of technologically advanced countries, can be
rendered right here, in the country, without need for passport, visa, airfare
or other hurdles and expenses.
He said the phenomenon which many Nigerians have
resorted to has left the poor in Nigeria to their fate or faith in God, and
so-called native medicine.
In his welcome address, the Medical Director of
the 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.
Aung explained that the Grays Cardiology Centre,
is a full-fledged Cardiology Centre with a vision of improving patients’
chances of healthy survival, bettering the quality of their care, and giving
more people the tools and education they need to prevent cardiovascular disease
in an ethical and affordable manner.
Recalling that the first digital Cardiac
Catheterisation and Angiography Suite in Nigeria was launched by Reddington
Hospital in 2009, he said Grays Cardiology Centre was launched in collaboration
with a team of indigenous cardiology experts, Professors of cardiology, and a
USA-based cardiology group.
The Grays Cardiology Centre will offer services
covering non-invasive and interventional procedures, heart diagnostic
procedures, cardiac rehabilitation, intensive coronary care, telementry
services, and heart care education, among others.
Dr. Okechukwu Usim, Clinical Director of Grays
Cardiology Centre during a clinical presentation, noted that cardiovascular
diseases have been responsible for many untimely deaths and disabilities
worldwide, especially in developing countries.
However, the Clinical Director said; “I am glad to
be a part of a dynamic team that has helped save so many lives from an early
death and restore them back to a productive healthy life.”
The inauguration of Grays Cardiology Centre is
coming barely one week after the Reddington Healthcare Group opened a Women
Health Centre.
Other special guests at the commissioning of the
Centre were, Dr. Akinyanju, the Chairman of the Sickle Cell Foundation, Dr.
Eckhart Diestel a Consultant Cardiologist from Germany and Dr. Demola Abiose,
an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa College, USA.
