Posted on: Mon 29-08-2022

The Federal Government, has been charged to prioritise the health of Nigerians as one of its cardinal projects and to make the health sector one of the top three priorities in the nation.

A Consultant Cardiologist and Cardiovascular Diseases Specialist, Dr. Eugene Nwosu, who gave the charge in Lagos, urged the government to urgently and purposefully come to the rescue of Nigerians by making the health sector one of the top three in the nation.

Nwosu, the Chief Medical Director, United Heart Hospital and Clinics, Lagos, lamented that it was disheartening that millions of Nigerians are suffering from poor health as a result of the inability to afford quality health care.

Speaking weekend during the fifth-anniversary celebration and expansion of services of the United Heart Hospital and Clinics, Lagos, Nwosu observed that even where qualitative health services existed in the country; it is only for a privileged few and beyond the average Nigerian.

His words: “Quality health care exists in Nigeria only for a few people. Most Nigerians do not have health insurance; payment is made at the point of service. A good number of those with health insurance have poor coverage.

“Also, proper laws to support emergency coverage are not enforceable because of poor funding of health care. In advanced societies, every patient presenting to the emergency room must be treated irrespective of their ability to pay.

“There’s a very high operational cost of care because almost all medical and surgical equipment with parts and supplies are imported and Nigerians pay more for those products compared to the cost of operations in the countries of origin. The service contracts are outrageous,” he argued.

Further, Nwosu decried the incessant brain drain saying that Nigeria currently lacks specialists in different aspects of medicine and surgery.

“So, sometimes, it is difficult to find specialists that can make the correct diagnosis and offer the right treatment. So, Nigerians are actually suffering, I see people that are misdiagnosed and undertreated but when they seek the right care, those problems can be corrected.”

Be kind to your arteries

Urging Nigerians to pay attention to their arteries, the cardiologist noted that arterial health is very critical to well-being. He said the hospital expanded its operations with the addition of a 64-slice Computerised Tomography, CT scan, and full ultrasound services, even as he admonished Nigerians to be kind to their arteries.

“I want you to know that physiologic age is superior to chronic age. It is not how old you are, it is how young your arteries are. Some people are 60 years old but their arteries are 120. There are certain surgeries that an 80-year-old can go through because their operating risk is very low while some people are 50 and their operating risk is very high.

“For example, if you are going to have surgery, and you are the type of the person that pants when climbing the stairs, even if you don’t have any other medical history, your operating risk is very high. And if you are 80 years old and you can jump around, your risk of complications is low. So your arterial health is very critical to your well-being,” he explained.

Nwosu said the effect of blood pressure on the arteries is significant. “High blood pressure narrows your arteries, so pay attention to blood pressure because it doesn’t have symptoms does not mean that all is well. The things that can make arteries get old are diabetes, high cholesterol, poor diet, smoking, and lack of physical exercise.

“Exercise, regular exercise is medicine. It counters all the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, and it is the best anti-aging medication. It prolongs your life. One hour of exercise prolongs your life by two hours.”

On the essence of the hospital’s 5th anniversary, he said: “It has been a journey of gratitude that coming back to Nigeria, I could be part of the solution to the healthcare problem.

“This fifth-anniversary celebration and expansion of services with the addition of CT scanner and full Ultrasound services is my testimony that God is faithful. My wife and I left the USA five years ago for Nigeria. Leaving behind the success and comfort of the USA was indeed an audacity of faith. To a lot of colleagues and friends both in the USA and here in Nigeria, it did not make any sense. I was responding to the call and desire to give back to my motherland.”

Go for a regular checkup — Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi

On his part, the Chairman of the occasion, celebrated scholar and former Managing Director, Daily Times, Nigeria, Ltd, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, called on Nigerians to cultivate an attitude toward regular checkups.

Ogunbiyi remarked: “I just lost a friend who had a stroke a few weeks ago, and I’m seeing more people of my age, sometimes younger than me having a stroke or cardiac complications and the answer to this is for people to do a lot of pre-tests.

“We  should constantly visit our doctors for medical checkups. Once you have passed the age of 60, you must do at least, two medical checkups in a year and when you are 70, you should have it often. Solutions to these problems are constant medical checkups,” Ogunbiyi added.

In his own remarks, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the hospital, Mr. Sylverius Okoli, said the health institution capitalises on the prevention of diseases.

“This place capitalises on the prevention of diseases and we have involved ourselves in total clinic care. Although the superintendent is a cardiologist when we came, we found that what Nigeria needed was more general practice that will favour both big and small.

“Then, it was necessary to establish the kind of practice to ensure that a lot of people got care and what they can afford to pay. But at least, we will prevent the major breakdown of human beings, especially on those things that people don’t normally care about.”

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