NIGERIAN hospitals have the equipment and expertise to treat most conditions taken abroad from the country, a medical expert and Country Representative/Manager of James Daniel Consultant firm, Mr. Emeka Ibe, has said.

 

Ibe, spoke at the ongoing Nigeria Hospitals Exhibition and Fair 2014 in Abuja, where he urged the nation’s citizens to patronize the nation’s hospitals.

 

His appeal came few days after the former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, warned that government officials must ensure that all medical conditions that could be handled in the country are not taken abroad.

 

Ibe said there were hospitals in the country that could even treat patients with some chronic conditions better than those they patronize abroad.

 

His words: “There is basically no service within the length and breadth of Nigeria that you cannot get from our hospital, be it public or private. Every available service in the health care is available in Nigeria; what is not available is information about those services, which we are working on. For instance, open heart surgery; in Nigeria, you can get that from University College of Ibadan, Lagos Teaching Hospital; you can also get that from Garki Teaching Hospital Abuja and many other hospitals in the country. 

 

“Kidney transplant can be done at Garki Teaching Hospital Abuja and many other hospitals, Delta State University Teaching Hospital. You can also get it at Teaching Hospital Ibadan. As for neuro-surgery, bone marrow, sickle-cell, radiology services, anemia diseases, all kinds issues; we have very well trained doctors locally and foreign,” he stressed.

 

Besides, the medical practitioner called for review of the Medical and Dental Council Acts to help reduce medical tourism in the country. 

 

He said further: “We are going to work with stakeholders in the health sector after this exhibition to go to National Assembly to look at the law establishing Medical and Dental Council Acts to be able to look at those provisions that within the law impede the advertising and marketing of hospitals in Nigeria.

 

“If that section is not properly worked on, it will be tougher for doctors and hospitals in the country to go out there to lay claim to such services.

 

“We want to attempt to put information at our door step, keep giving people information that will help them make decision to travel or not to travel. Therefore, we brought as many as possible hospital together to push the best way forward and tell Nigerian through the media what we are capable of doing to help to make a decision whether to use local service or foreign hospitals.

 

“And to reiterate more, we have decided to make our mission and promote Nigeria as a regional hub for medical tourism, a place where you can get treatment not just Nigerians but to foreigners, especially West Africa countries.

 

“A lot of foreigner have been treated in Nigeria, people that travel from their country to Nigeria. So, we have success stories, but these stories have not been celebrated, rather what you hear is patient moving from Nigeria to abroad,” he lamented.

 

The theme of the three-day fair is “showcasing Nigeria Hospitals”.

Written by EMEKA ANUFORO, ABUJA