A GROUP of specialist Nigerian doctors practising overseas have said that one of the surest ways to end huge capital flight suffered by the country due to yearly overseas healthcare trips is immediate establishment of a world class heartcare centre in the country.

 

  Making the pronouncement yesterday at the Garki Hospital, Abuja, where a team of 15 Diaspora doctors flew in to conduct free heart surgeries for indigent patients, Pauline Odeyemi who is Project Manager of the Hospital For Humanity (HFH), said the pro bono surgeries were in response to the current gap in the nation’s healthcare system.

 

  Odeyemi, who is a specialist in medical ICT in the United Kingdom (UK), said that majority of the people who trooped abroad for medical care do so mainly for specialist needs, key among which is cardiothoracic surgeries.

 

  According to her, it is ironical that there is a dearth of specialist heart doctors in the country, whereas Nigerian doctors form the bulk of best hands paraded in the same field in Europe and America, noting that the doctors who had flown in from different parts of the world were in Nigeria to give urgent surgical sessions to patients in dire need of one, especially children from 0-9 years.

 

  As a way out, Odeyemi, who addressed journalists on behalf of the 25-man medical specialist team, said that doctors on the HFH team have agreed to continue to offer humanitarian services to patients in the country as way of giving back to their home country, but added that there is an urgent need to set up a world class cardio thoracic centre in the country, preferably in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

 

  “We are looking for a permanent site where we can have a world class cardio thoracic centre established, preferably in the FCT. We are calling on the Federal Government and public-spirited individuals to assist in this regard. The cardio thoracic surgical mission is intended to help patients with heart problems. We believe that with the quality of specialists we have globally, we can attract them as we are in contact with them to establish our own heart care hospital we can all be proud of”, she said.

 

  Addressing journalists on the importance of the cardio thoracic surgeries to be performed by specialists on 19 patients in the first phase of the exercise, Odeyemi said that the move became necessary to save the lives of the patients whose parents could not afford the growing cost of a heart surgery. While saying that heart surgery is a costly venture globally, she noted that in Nigeria it could cost up to N2 or N3 million per patient.

 

  Meanwhile, Acting General Secretary of West African Civil Society Forum (WACSO), Auwal Musa, has called for a concerted effort within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to integrate policies on health, food security and other sundry matters.

 

  According to him, countries within the ECOWAS community need to streamline development policies regarding health, agriculture and security in order to maximise regional co-operation among member-countries, stressing that civil society groups need to champion advocacy on wide-ranging issues for their various home governments in order to hold them accountable. 

 By Chuka Odittah