Investing in Medical Practitioners will Tackle Health Tourism, Says Ambode
Any investment made in the procurement of sophisticated health equipment will amount to monumental waste if not complemented by a trained pool of medical workforce, the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, has said.
He said constant training and retraining of medical practitioners is a strategy that would effectively curb medical tourism in Lagos State and in Nigeria at large.
Stating this at the Healthcare Leadership Academy graduation ceremony/launch of the association alumni in Lagos recently, Ambode, who was represented by his Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said: “It is on record that the nation loses an estimated one billion dollars annually to medical tourism mostly as a result of inadequate investment in the nation’s healthcare system.
“The failure of the health system is often attributed to the penchant for medical tourism embarked by prominent Nigerians, a major contributor to the current spate of brain drain, loss of confidence in the sector along with patient drain and capital flight abroad. No less than 37, 000 Nigerian doctors are in the diaspora, with about 30, 000 in the United Kingdom.”
Noting that training underscores the importance of the vision of the state government for the health sector, Ambode highlighted need for a sustained training programme to regularly update medical personnel on global trends in the medical world.
“The partnership we maintain with the Academy is a reflection of the commitment of the state government to human capacity development in the health sector is to strengthen the capacity of our health institutions from the primary healthcare to the tertiary level with the state of the art medical facilities complemented by well-trained and motivated healthcare personnel across board.”
Fifteen medical directors of the Lagos State General Hospitals among other fellows graduated from the Healthcare Executives Leadership Programme (HELP) while other personnel graduated from Patient-Centred Care (PCC).
The Governor remarked that the graduands who have undergone a process of knowledge rejuvenation, should diligently apply the knowledge acquired to take healthcare service delivery to the next level.
Founder of HLA/Chief Executive Officer, Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF), Dr. Kelechi Ohiri tasked the graduands to live up to their role in achieving transformation and change in the healthcare system in Nigeria.
“You are the ones raising the bar for healthcare. Disruptive thinking is what you have learnt. Disruptive innovation is what you require,” noted President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, HFN, Mrs .Clare Omatseye.