Nigeria should balance medical tourism – Experts
‘Dirty fuel endangering health of Nigerians’
Nigeria should work towards striking a balance between the number of people travelling in and out of the country for medical treatment, experts have advised.
They gave the advice yesterday during the ‘All Things Medical’ Conference and Exhibition organized by Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust and other titles in collaboration with Prompt Home Health, and other partners in Abuja.
Speaking separately at the conference themed “Celebrating Nigeria’s Medical Care: Why bother to go outside?” the Minister of health, Prof. Isaac Adewole and the founder, Nisa Premier Hospital, Dr Ibrahim Wada, said Nigeria could also be a tourist hub for people to travel to from all parts of the world for treatment.
Dr Ibrahim Wada said over 50 The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), a NonGovernmental Organisation and the Public Eye, an NGO based in Switzerland, have said the high Sulphur content in dirty fuel is causing environmental and health risks to Nigerians.
Speaking during the launch of “stop dirty fuel” campaign by the two organizations in Abuja, Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev percent of the world are traveling for medical care and 150,000 Americans travel outside the USA for medical care yearly, adding that it would be deceptive for anyone to think that in 20 years’ time Nigerians would not be traveling abroad for medical care as the world has become a small village.
He said the problem with Nigeria was that more people were leaving the country for medical attention than those coming into the country for medical services.
He said: “Medical travel is a historical part of human existence and globalization is facilitating the phenomenon. In Nigerian history, people travelled from one place to the other in search of better traditional care in the olden days.
“We should think of what we need to improve our health care services and facilities that will attract people to our country for such services. What we should do now is to strike a balance to David Ugolor, said that such health risks include stroke, heart diseases and chronic respiratory diseases.
He said Swiss commodity trading companies take advantage of weak fuel standards in Africa to produce, deliver and sell diesel and gasoline which endanger the health of Nigerians.
Ugolor said their business model relies on an illegitimate strategy of deliberately lowering the quality of fuels in order to increase their profits, adding that through using a common industry practice called see that the number of those traveling for medical services equate those coming into the country too. If we do that, then we are on the part of economy growth and tracking resources.”
Minister of health, Professor Isaac Adewole said that as oil prices are falling, and budgetary allocation dwindling, reversing medical tourism and making Nigeria the hub of medical tourism would result in a diversified economy.
Represented by Dr Omobolanle Olowu Head, Public Private Partnership in Diaspora Unit in the ministry, he said with adequate financing and the willingness of Nigeria’s health professionals in the diaspora to return home to contribute their quota, Nigeria can become the hub for medical tourism on the African continent.
He advised that Nigeria should also borrow a leaf from Malaysia, Singapore and India by repositioning our health industry to meet up with world standard blending, trading companies mix cheap but toxic intermediate petroleum products to produce what the industry calls “African Quality” fuels.
According to him, these intermediate products contain high levels of Sulphur as well as other toxic substances such as benzene and aromatics, and by selling such fuels in Africa, the traders increase outdoor air pollution, causing respiratory disease and premature death.
“Poor air quality poses serious risks to public health. As air quality declines, the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung and make Nigeria a medical tourist hub which will further strengthen the economy and earn it billions of dollars annually.
The Associate Director, Business & Strategy, Media Trust Limited, Aliu Akoshile, who spoke on behalf of the organization at the event, said for seven years the company has been giving scholarship to female medical students in some universities in Nigeria with over 100 beneficiaries, adding that the company is concerned about the physical and mental fitness of its readers and Nigerians.
He said, “we are worried about the quantum of money being spent outside the shores of this country by people looking for solutions to medical ailments and we believe that we have capable medical facilities that can take care of these things in Nigeria and that is why we support this platform to give us the opportunity to showcase what Nigeria can offer in terms of medical solutions to ailments.” cancer, and chronic and acute respiratory diseases increases,” he said.
The Executive Director said that apart from the health hazards, dirty fuel also leads to huge economic loss to vehicle owners because it burns very fast.
The group called on the federal government to pay more attention to the dangers posed to her citizens by importers of dirty fuel and to enact laws in conjunction with the National Assembly and other stakeholders to check activities of illegitimate fuel importers.