-Medical experts have condemned increased level of oversea medical treatments
-Says it could affect the health individuals
-Advocates equipment of health centers in Nigeria
Some health practitioners have advised the federal government on the need to equip Nigerian hospitals with state of the art modern equipment. This, they believe would would reduce the quest for oversea medical treatment by most Nigerians.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), chairman, Medical Advisory Committee at the University College Hospital Ibadan, Dr Adefemi Afolabi, blamed the situation on lack of confidence in the Nigerian health system.
He noted that some patients returned from treatment trips with more complications than those that existed from the initial diseases adding that it would be difficult for a doctor to complete what someone else started.
Afolabi who discouraged Nigerians from seeking medical treatments abroad maintained that there was enough expertise in the country.
He said: “There are practical examples of medical errors and stress of the patients. These consultants are given advanced ailments which they have never seen before. It is only in Nigeria that patients wait for ailments to reach advance stages before seeking professional medical help. Treatments now become difficult and tricky for those experts as they have never seen such worse cases before and diagnoses now become trial and error because they had never seen peculiar cases before.”
“For the restraint to be effective, government needs to build on expertise through training and retraining and make available conducive atmosphere for newly trained doctors to practice. Government should equip our hospitals with state-of the art medical equipment to the extent that these experts would be able to practise and discourage importation of obsolete equipment,” he added.
A consultant dental surgeon at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Professor Juwon Arotiba however noted that the cost of treatment, transportation, maintenance of the patient and accompanying persons, depleted Nigeria’s foreign exchange.
He said: “There were inadequate and modern equipment, no well trained medical personnel and drugs and dressings were sad stories. But those stories are now in the past and anyone seeking medical tourism will be putting a lot of problems on himself.”
“There are so many disadvantages wrought by this idea and I believe that a responsible government would not allow this to happen to its health sector. I can say that Nigeria’s health sector has improved considerably in many areas despite challenges faced by it.”
“Nigerians now see travelling for medical treatment as a class issue to the extent that any little medical discomfort is treated abroad. If consultants refuse to give referrals based on the fact that hospitals in Nigeria can handle such cases, the patients become insistent.”
“But the medical consultant has the right to state in the referral note that the patient insisted on seeking help overseas despite the fact that such cases could be treated here in Nigeria. After patients return, there is the challenge of follow-up and feedback. It is not easy for a doctor to effectively review a patient whose case-history was not adequately monitored by home doctors,” he added.
The chairman, Medical and Dental Consultant Association of Nigeria, Oyo state chapter, Dr Buki Adewole has attributed the increased level of oversea treatment by Nigerians on the decay and dysfunction in the larger society.
She noted that many patients were being exploited abroad, with many returning misdiagnosed after paying exorbitant bills adding that the government and Nigeians should take full responsibility of bringing the health sector to its desired level.
Mr Samuel Adeyemi, the immediate past chairman, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, urged government to re-orientate Nigerians on medical tourism.
He said: “I believe that the health sector in Nigeria is ripe enough to take charge of the delivery of healthcare and government should do the needful by allocating more money to healthcare delivery.”
The chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Oyo state branch, Mr Olalekan Fashesin said Nigeria had enough manufacturing companies to complement tertiary health facilities adding that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had certified over 50 companies to produce drugs locally in accordance with best practices.
Mr Muideen Olatunji, Oyo State chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), said the health sector in Nigeria could compete with its counterparts overseas.
He said the Federal Government should take measures to reduce medical tourism to conserve foreign exchange and ensure the safety of Nigerians.
Dr Benedictus Ajayi, the Group Managing Director of Eleta Eye Institute, said Nigeria was losing huge sums to medical tourism because of ignorance and inadequate healthcare facilities.
Ajayi advised government to give tax incentives and loans, as in the agricultural sector, to further stimulate investment in the health sector.
He said: “If the government encourages the private sector through tax incentives and loans like it is being done in the agriculture sector, then we would save the amount of money Nigerians pay outside.”
The secretary general of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ogun state branch, Dr Adewunmi Alayaki, condemned the attitude of some doctors who referred patients abroad without consulting senior professionals in the field because of the “commission” the received from such referrals.
He said: “Medical tourism is not something we are happy about because most of the ailments we take outside the shores of the country can actually be handled in this country. At times, it is because we don’t know where to go to. We see some of these hospitals over there approaching Nigerian doctors to send them cases which could naturally be treated here.”
“The primary aim of a medical doctor is to give the patient the best. If I know the ailment can be treated in UCH or LUTH, I won’t say because if I refer to hospital in India they are going to give me a rebate back, so I want to refer them. I have been approached by some of these hospitals. Personally, I am against it,” he said.
Ajayii, however said the federal government had not done enough to boost healthcare delivery.
He said: “Nigerian doctors are everywhere in the world, they go there because those people have equipment to work with while we don’t have here in the country. If the government wants to do well, there is nothing stopping them from establishing well equipped hospitals in the six geopolitical zones of the country. Orthopedic hospitals should be well equipped, if it is one in a zone, people will know and they will go there instead of going abroad.
“It is not about personnel, it is about having the equipment to work with, the government should equip our expertise with the best facilities you can get anywhere in the world. We have to start the campaign for our members to refer to team of experts in higher centers. If your case cannot be handled in Nigeria, let it come from them. By the time we start campaigning about it, medical tourism will stop,” he added.
The chairman, Management Board of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Professor Emmanuel Otolorin, said the process of treatment and not personnel were the challenges of Nigeria’s health system.
Otolorin alleged successive governments in the country of establishing health facilities based on political considerations.
He said: “Nigeria is blessed. When you look at Africa, we have some of the best practitioners in Africa and even elsewhere in the world. Many of our doctors and nurses who have migrated are doing very well in a different environment where the input are; the processes are in place and the outcome is therefore appreciable. I worked in the UK for a while and I used to laugh when people will come from Nigeria to UK for a service and a Nigerian doctor is the one taking care of them.
“ So we have good healthcare workers but we need to put in place processes and systems that everybody will follow. The problem with us is that people take shortcuts and when you take shortcuts; the quality of services you provide will be not be optimal. So we need to stop taking shortcuts.”
The Dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences. University of Ilorin, Professor Abdulwahab Johnson called on the government to lay emphasis on curative healthcare.
“Those people who embark on health tourism to India and China come back most times dissatisfied. Quite a number of people get marooned with quack doctors and Indians who are quick at taking advantage of them,” he said.
Dr Dayo Adeyanju, Ondo State Commissioner for Health, however, said there was a need for better specialist and teaching hospitals to provide specialized care for Nigerians.
He said: “If the Federal Government can provide standard health facilities it will help to take care of critical ailments, such as heart surgeries, brain surgeries, cancer and others which our people are trooping out of the country to treat.
“I believe that people don’t go abroad to treat common ailments, so the Federal Government needs to strengthen its health institutions and staff to be able to tackle special cases.”
The chairman, Osun state House of Assembly committee on health, Leke Ogunsola, described the situation as regrettable adding that those who travelled abroad were being used for experiments by incompetent doctors.
Ogunsola, said government must monitor hospitals Nigerians were being referred to for treatment abroad even as he called for sanctions against doctors who referred patients to low grade hospitals abroad for monetary gains.
The permanent secretary, Osun state Ministry of Health, Dr Temitope Oladele, said there was a need for government to set up a medical referral mechanism in the country.
This he said would enable government and individuals to assess the quality of healthcare some Nigerians sought abroad.
He said the initiative would be “a two way referral system in which referred patients will be examined at the point of departure and also given feedback after the completion of the treatment.
“In order to access and ensure quality healthcare delivery for Nigerians abroad, there is an urgent need for medical immigration which will serve as referral mechanism.
“The control body will be saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the quality of health service available to Nigerians in referral hospitals,” he said.
Similarly, the minister of state for health, Osagie Ehanire has said thatNigeria loses over one N1 billion to medical tourism annually.
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