Hospital promises to bridge medical tourism with standard diagnosis, others

Irked by the huge financial burden of medial tourism on Nigeria’s economy and her citizens, due to poor healthcare delivery and services, the Managing Director, Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital, Gleen de Villiers has said improved patient diagnosis, treatment and care would address the burden.

He stated this during a press conference to mark the hospital’s two-year operation in the country. Villiers stressed that series of reports have shown that a large percentage of Nigerians on a yearly bases travel out of the country in order to be treated in the United Kingdom, United States, Dubai and India among their foreign countries, which amounts to an average of over one billion US dollars, according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) estimate.

The head of the hospital said this led the facility to establish its operations in Nigeria and provide international standard facility with foreign specialists to practice, offering affordable and cheaper healthcare service than the cost incurred while traveling overseas to be treated. “We have established the need to cut down medical tourism, bringing medical consultants and necessary equipment from an intensive Care unit to a full span of diagnostic equipment, including a 64 Slice CT scanner, 1.5 Tesla MRI, an Ultrasound and Echocardiogram. We have already built a strong base of operation with catheterization laboratory and operating theatre. All of these shows that we are here for a long haul to provide quality healthcare to Nigerians,” he maintained. He said the hospital has experienced significant growth in the number of patients and the outcomes, as over 11,000 patients have being treated for the last two years, registration of new patients grew from 839 to 2,003, while total patients’ growth went from 1,300 to 6000 patients yearly.

Villiers added that the hospital’s consultations exceeded 5,000 and receives 1,000 patients daily for its monthly record, while it witnessed growth in surgeries, with over 360 cases and a growing rate of about 80 per cent year on year.

Also speaking, a Consultant General in Gastrointestinal and Laparoscopic Surgery, Dr. Abuchi Okaro said the hospital’s main focus is around continuous patients’ care, providing quality and affordable healthcare services from international and local expertise.

Speaking on the reason behind the increased traffic for medical tourism, the Medical Director/ Adult Congenital and Structural Interventional Cardiologist, Dr. Tosin Majekodunmi, said lack of safety culture in the country’s health system has resulted to increased flow of Nigerians seeking treatment abroad.

He, however, stressed that Nigeria should adopt the safety culture for the patients’ health, with world-class facilities and expertise for a functional health system, which he noted would restore the people’s confidence in the country.