
(“holes in the heart”). However, we received conflicting diagnoses from a tertiary medical centre and a private diagnostic centre both in Abuja. To say we were worried would be the understatement of the century!! Subsequently, the Paediatric Cardiologist at the government tertiary medical centre in Abuja referred our daughter to MIOT hospital, Chennai, India. At MIOT, the definitive diagnosis was different from both diagnoses we received in Nigeria. The Indian Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon successfully performed an Arterial Switch Operation which closed the defects. Our daughter is now fine and her energy sometimes makes me wonder if perhaps she was given two hearts in India.


There have also been anecdotal
reports of Indian hospitals coming to Nigeria directly to solicit for patients
through their own clinics and facilities set up largely for that sole purpose.
Economically, for patients and their
families, paying for treatment in India does not come cheap. Nine of every 10 Nigerians survive on less than
US$2 a day, it is not surprising that most people have to seek significant cash
donations and loans in order to pay for medical treatment in India. Even, as a
doctor myself; my wife and I still had to take loans amounting to thousands of
dollars from both of our employers to pay for our daughter’s surgery.
In my case, and for several other
Nigerians that have successfully raised the funds for medical treatment in
India, this has been life-saving.
However there are several questions
that arise; is it ethical for Indian hospital groups to market health services
this way through Nigerian doctors? Is it legal for Nigerian doctors to accept
financial incentives for referral without declaring this to their patients? Is
it fair that Nigerian Doctors/hospital groups are not allowed to advertise
their services locally while their counterparts from India brazenly do so?
However, the biggest question is why
the Nigerian healthcare sector is not responding rapidly enough to the huge
demand for high quality, well managed, ethical and financially sustainable
medical services.
For a long time, governments at all
levels in Nigeria have failed to implement policies to drive the improvement of
health services. Despite the often acclaimed projects to
equip hospitals, very little has changed and there is little confidence in
health care services offered in Nigeria. Even in the private sector, the story
is not much different. It is time for some game changing investments in the
Nigerian health industry. Investors can take a cue from Africa’s richest man,
Aliko Dangote, who is investing in the construction of a 1000-bed ultra-modern hospital
in Kano State. He should be encouraged to make the proposed hospital a centre
of excellence focusing on few specialties. Kano could as well become a medical
tourism destination; patients from other parts of Nigeria, the West African
sub-region and Africa as a whole should benefit from the hospital if it is well
organised and equipped. In starting off, he must learn from previous attempts
to set up ultra-modern hospitals in Nigeria and understand why they failed

Nigeria is now the largest economy
and has the largest population in Africa. These positives should translate into
better healthcare for all Nigerians. We really have no business travelling thousands
of miles to India for healthcare. For us at Nigeria Health Watch – We will
celebrate when Nigeria becomes a health tourism
destination. Until then….there’s work to be done!
IFEANYI NSOFOR
Ifeanyi is a member of the Nigeria Health watch.
Medical tourism company in India
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