MODUPE ELEBUTE-ODUNSI

Founder/ceo Marcelle Ruth Cancer Centre & Specialist Hospital

Central to everything that we talked about was the fact that we wanted a hospital that was of international standards all the time. To make sure that whilst we were doing that, we kept in mind the fact that patients are central to all that we do. We decided to have a complete one stop shop.

I have practiced in the UK and have been part of the Lagoon Hospital which started many years ago. I know quite a lot about the private sector in Nigeria though I did not work with them. One thing I observed was that, access to health care for patients was disjointed. You do your blood test somewhere and you go for your scan somewhere else, there is no cohesiveness. That was one of the major things for me which we corrected by setting up this place.

Also, we have designed the whole place in a way that feels like a home which promotes healing from the time people walk through the door. We have got the medical side, and we have the day unit, where people come for transfusions, chemotherapy, observations and all. Also, in another building, we house our theatres, imaging MRI, state of the art mammogram which enables us to get better images, CT scan and the linear accelerator machine which delivers radiotherapy to patients. We should have one of this to 100,000 patients; sadly we have only 5 in Nigeria. That is why we went the extra mile to invest in this project so that any patient that comes here doesn’t have to go anywhere else.

We need to have a forum where we can engage government, especially regarding health, tax exemptions, Customs issues and surely, additional costs should be removed. Massive generator bills keep rising. There is the need for a rebate; it makes it easier for us, which makes it easier for the patients because, if the cost is high, it will definitely impact on the patients/end user. Your role as Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission is critical.