By Olasunkanmi Onifade
Abuja – An FCT-based Hospital Development and Management Company has advised the Federal Government to introduce new policies and regulatory frameworks in the healthcare industry to attract private sector investment.
Crystal Thorpe Managing Director, Ugonna Ogueri, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday that with such policies, there would be reversal in medical tourism and improved quality of healthcare in the country.
“Quality metrics needs to be standardised across the healthcare sector which will help in the monitoring and supervision of medical services in Nigeria for better outcomes, especially in a changing environment of diagnosis and disease burden.
“This will give Nigerians confidence to seek care at home, policies targeted at developing centres of excellence in those areas that take Nigerians out of the country will help reduce the incidence of medical induced tourism.
“It will also curb brain drain and boost the sector’s contribution to our national economy which will translate to increased taxes for the government,” she said.
Ogueri said that if the policies and frameworks were properly channeled it would also help preserve foreign exchange reserves to boost the economy.
“If we go by projections, by 2050 Nigeria will have 400 million people, so you can imagine the level of healthcare infrastructure that is going to be required in the country,” Ogueri said.
She stressed the need to use technology to accelerate growth and bridge the infrastructure gap in order to support the growing population.
“Nigeria is tackling communicable diseases to a large extent, especially in developing primary healthcare centres, and with the push for universal health coverage, we can achieve basic healthcare for our citizens.
“We also need to effectively manage diagnosis and treatment, particularly for long-term conditions which are often non-communicable to improve the overall health of Nigerians,” Ogueri said.
She said that government needed to leverage on the private sector and foreign investment in achieving its objective for the healthcare sector, adding that Crystal Thorpe is committed to supporting the government in this regard.
“Crystal Thorpe is a hospital development and management company which operates hospitals, diagnostic centres and supports training of medical personnel to improve healthcare outcomes.
“We bring best practices to service delivery leveraging our international experience and relationships,” Ogueri said.
She, however, added that Nigeria was experiencing growing episodes of cancer cases year-on-year according to the 10-cancer registries in the country.
Ogueri said that policies should be put in place to address some of the issues to do with early detection and awareness, standardised level of care, stronger healthcare financing mechanisms and monitoring. (NAN)