Medical tourism is gradually killing healthcare in Nigeria – ABUDU

Federal government has been called upon to urgently stem the tide of medical tourism in the country because it is gradually killing healthcare in Nigeria. A Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon from the United Kingdom, Dr. Segun Abudu decried the penchant of government officials to jet out of the country for common illnesses that could be handled perfectly in Nigeria.

Speaking during the second Lagoon Hospitals Surgery for the Future: The Journey So far”, Abudu recommended that said no government officials or their relatives should be allowed to go abroad for treatment at government expense, except a senior physician confirms such
services cannot be obtained locally.

“Medical tourism is killing healthcare because Nigeria has a vicious cycle whereby the people that could be treated in this country go abroad, preventing experts from getting the experience.

“It also affects the training of doctors of the future on such conditions because those conditions are no longer treated in the country but abroad. And that means we now have a cycle whereby as more patients go abroad, the less skills our physicians have, the less training we are able to give and the worst the future because we are not training the doctors of the future in the right way.”

Abudu who is also a visiting consultant to Lagoon Hospitals, said billions of dollars taken away from Nigeria’s healthcare would have been invested in creating excellent facilities like Lagoon hospitals is doing currently all around the countries.

“I believe that our pride is as stake. The pride to cater for our own people is as stake. I think is a matter of national pride that we should look after our own people in our own country, in our own environment. And that care should be provided by Nigerians in Nigeria at the very high level of quality so that the result are comparable or most times better than those that can be obtain abroad,” he stated.

Consultant General Surgeon, Dr Jimi Coker, stated that that Lagoon has invested heavily in the state of the art equipment for all major surgical techniques.

Lead Consultant, Obstetrics and Gynaecology explained that upgraded surgical strategy has enabled the hospital to perform simple and complex laparoscopic procedures.