NSIA: Conserving Forex for Nigeria Through Healthcare Intervention Programmes
Nigeria has one of the fastest growing populations globally, with 5.5 live births per woman and a population growth rate of 3.2 per cent annually, which is set to put the country’s population at 400 million people by 2050, however, Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure has been underdeveloped and this has remained a major challenge for the people
The country is yet to fully establish strong systems to guarantee health security for its people.
Medical professionals in many specialized medical fields such as cardiology, oncology, nephrology, neurology, orthopaedics, and many other areas are in short supply, with only about 35,000 doctors despite needing 237,000
The migration of healthcare professionals further threatens this acute supply. Nigeria loses at least $1.5bn every year to medical tourism, according to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA). Of this figure, India accounts for more than half.
Worried by this development, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority in 2018 took a bold step by setting up the NSIA Healthcare Development and Investment Company (NHDIC) to transform the domestic healthcare sector and elevate the quality of service to international standards. Five years since taking that step, the implications of this visionary decision have been farreaching.
The NSIA’s approach was to consider the sector from both a social impact and commercial returns standpoint. The Authority hinged its strategy on colocating NSIA healthcare centres of excellence within federal tertiary medical institutions.
This approach would enable the Authority to provide equipment, operatorship, working capital and technical expertise while the designated partner institution would provide land, clinicians and expertise, and patient traffic.
Seeking to develop a blue ocean solution, the NSIA invested $22m in threeflagship projects and in so doing, created NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre, Lagos, (NLCC),
NSIA-Kano Diagnostic Centre, Kano, (NKDC), and NSIA-Umuahia Diagnostic Centre, Umuahia, (NUDC), concurrently.
Operational since 2019, the NLCC has treated over 7,000 patients to date. When it opened its doors, NLCC was the first to install a linear accelerator in Nigeria and today, remains the centre with the highest number of linear accelerators in West Africa.
The Centre is equipped with several top-of-theline medical equipments including three linear accelerators, a brachytherapy system, a 1.5 Tesla MRI, a 128 slice CT scanner, a mammogram, digital X-rays, ultrasound scanners and laboratory pathology systems among others.
NKDC, Kano and NUDC, Umuahia provide comprehensive radio imaging and laboratory diagnostic services. The centres have recorded an unprecedented success in terms of exponential growth in client patronage. To date, both centres have rendered diagnostic services to nearly 120,000 clients within just three years of operations.
All three centres have recorded excellent success commercially and delivered significant social impact for the benefit of Nigerians.
What was clear from operating these 3 centers, was that as long as the facilities needed to effectively diagnose are available and reasonably priced, then citizens and residents can diagnose ailments quickly, accurately and early enough to receive treatment and avoid untimely deaths.
This is why over the next five years, the NSIA will be building 23 new modern medical diagnostic centres, three Oncology centres, and six Catheterization Laboratories across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
In a bid to achieve this, the NSIA penultimate Tuesday took over the management of the Enugu Diagnostic Centre, effectively making Enugu State to effectively joins Lagos, Kano and neighbouring Abia State where NSIA’s impactful healthcare projects are already saving lives and bringing succour to the people.
To effectively manage the healthcare facilities, the NSIA launched two of its flagship companies namely the NSIA Advanced Medical Service Ltd (MedServe) and Equilease Systems Limited (Equilease).
MedServe is being set up to serve as the vehicle to deliver NSIA’s healthcare expansion objectives.
Its goal is to provide high quality and affordable healthcare services and ensure equitable geographic access to these services across the country.
The company will develop, equip, and operate NSIA’s expanding portfolio of healthcare centres and offer first class medical services nationwide.
On the other hand, EquiLease is a specialized equipment leasing service provider. Conceived as a market disruptor, the company will provide medical equipment leasing services, leveraging its strategic advantage to catalyze investments in healthcare institutions and facilitating the acquisition of equipment to improve the quality of healthcare in Nigeria.
Equilease will partner with medical equipment manufacturers to offer innovative financing and leasing programs for advanced medical equipment.
At the onset, it will offer services exclusively to MedServe as an anchor client until the concept is proven.
The transfer of the Enugu State Medical Diagnostic Centre from the Enugu State Government to the Authority is part of the three-part event.
Following the transfer, the Centre will be rehabilitated and upgraded to deliver both Diagnostic and Oncology services covering automated laboratory services ranging from imaging to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, brachytherapy and much more.
The Centre will be managed and operated by MedServe while re-equipping will be delivered through the leasing services provided by EquiLease.
The complete overhaul of the Centre’s infrastructure will position the facility to meet the growing demand for quality healthcare services in the Eastern region of the country and beyond.
The official transfer is off the back of the agreements signed in September 2022 where both parties committed to it.
Delivering his remarks on the three-part event, Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NSIA said: “Over the past five years, we have built a strong and successful portfolio of healthcare service delivery centres.
He described MedServe and Equilease as transformative, market-disrupting entities that will deliver a unique set of connected solutions to bridge the gaps in Nigeria’s healthcare industry.
Speaking at the event, the Governor of Enugu State said the physical and mental wellbeing of the workforce in any state is a function of the quality of healthcare services available.
Ugwuanyi stressed that the project would address the issues of capital flight, medical tourism and preventable deaths arising from the lack of diagnostic testing centres in part of the country.
The Governor said, “Healthcare inexorably determines the direction of the economy. The partnership with NSIA to transform this facility with the promise of significantly better equipment and services will go a long way towards contributing to healthcare security in the state.
“With this, our state will be one of the few states equipped with world-class healthcare infrastructure and amenities.”
Also speaking at the event, a Non-Executive Director at the NSIA, Dr. Ogechi PascalEjiogu said the NSIA, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, has signed a series of agreements to modernize and expand healthcare services through private sector participation.
Under these agreements, she explained that the NSIA is looking to develop the capacity of specialist hospitals and diagnostic centers to provide advanced medical services across the country under phase II of its healthcare expansion programme.
She stated that the Enugu State Diagnostic Centre will be the NSIA’s first in this phase.
The NSIA is an investment institution of the Federation set up to manage funds in excess of budgeted hydrocarbon revenues.
Its mission is to play a leading role in driving sustained economic development for the benefit of all Nigerians through building a savings base for the Nigerian people, enhancing the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure, and providing stabilization support in times of economic stress.
In his remarks, the Enugu State Governor-elect, Dr Peter Mbah, commended the efforts and partnership between the federal government and the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State over the official handover of the state-of-theart Enugu Diagnostic and Oncology Centre built by the state to aid quick and early diagnosis of diseases and for the treatment of cancer.