Dr Adebayo
Adekunle, the Medical Director of General Hospital, Suleja, has
solicited purposeful public-private partnerships in the health sector to
check rampant medical tourism tendency among Nigerians.
He said this when he spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday.
Adekunle said that
Nigerians often sought medical treatment abroad because they felt there
were no required medical facilities in the country for the desired
specialised treatment in the health system.
Insisting that
cases of medical tourism were on the increase, he pleaded with the
wealthy Nigerians to assist in promoting good medical services by
donating generously to hospitals across the country.
Health service is
not supposed to be the sole responsibility of the government. Concerned
Nigerians should contribute to the health sector by sponsoring research,
donating buildings or medical equipment.
General Hospital,
Suleja is a 145-bed secondary health institution but it ought to be more
than that by its conception and design.
It has basic health
facilities such as Surgery, Ante Natal, Out Patient Department,
Emergency ward and Paediatrics, among others.
"When I came on
board you can say this is not a hospital because of its dilapidated and
decaying structures; the environment is not well kept, in term of beds,
wards and equipment.
I ensure that the
hospital environment is clean and I know that people really appreciate
this gesture by being part of the sanitation team that evacuates dirt in
the hospital's premises to give it a befitting look," he said.
Adekunle said this
innovation notwithstanding, the hospital and other health facilities
across the country needed more infrastructures to convince Nigerians
seeking medical treatment abroad that they could get it cheaper in the
country.
He said that his hospital was adjudged the best secondary health institution in the northern part of the country.
The medical
director recalled that in recognition of this, the Nigerian Alliance for
Health System Strengthening, in collaboration with University of
Maryland, Baltimore County, U.S., recently invited him to speak on the
role of management in clinical governance.
I received a letter to talk on the topic to tell the world how we have been managing clinical matters and achieving success.
What General
Hospital, Suleja needs is just the support of the public in terms of
advice, contributions and funds to render world class medical service to
discourage medical tourism," he said.(NAN)
http://allafrica.com/stories/201602220077.html
