WRITTEN BY NGOZI OBILERI
Medical tourism has become a problem in Nigeria. Apart from the fact that it drains resources and time, it also makes Nigeria look like an unserious nation in the eyes of the world.

Statistics show that Nigeria spends over one hundred and eighty billion naira every year on medical trips abroad. Moreover, allocation to the health sector by the federal government is so insignificant to make any meaningful impact on the sector.

However, Anambra state government, under Governor Willie Obiano should be commended for allocating greater chunk of its annual budget in health, more than any other state in the country.

The Federal government is therefore urged to increase its health budget to fifteen per cent of annual budget as recommended by the World Health Organization.

Some of the diseases that take people abroad are, but not limited to, Chronic Kidney failure, for which people travel for kidney transplant; different kinds cancer of the body; severe osteoarthritis of the joints, requiring hip and knee replacements; Infertility, requiring assisted conception like In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and so many others.

To bridge the gap, many private hospitals in Nigeria have taken up the challenge to reduce this movement of Nigerians to other countries in search of medication.

In Lagos, private hospitals like Eko hospital carries out kidney transplants for Kidney disease patients and radiotherapy for cancer patients.

In Abuja, a private hospital, called Cedacrest recently treated the son of the president who had accident with head injury. He was not taken abroad.

In Anambra State, an Orthopaedic Hospital, called Princeton Specialist Hospital and Orthopaedic Centre, at Ngozika Estate, Awka has replaced so many hips and knees that would have taken people outside the country. The centre offers a world class Orthopaedic surgery to Ndi Anambra and Nigerians in general.

Princeton Specialist Hospital and Orthopaedic center, Awka, recently started a surgery called Revision Arthroplasty, which hitherto could only be done outside the country.

That surgery is for those who have gone to India or other parts of the world for hip and knee replacement but who came back and had problems requiring a change of same hip or knee.

Other services being carried out in Princeton Orthopaedic Hospital include surgeries for those who have arthritis and many more.

Our own son, Dr Amaechi Nwachukwu, will lead a team of professionals to carry out such surgeries from February 1 to February 17, 2018 at PRINCETON Specialist Hospital and Orthopaedic Centre, Ngozika Housing estate, Awka. They do this every two months with foreign experts who are also doing technology transfer to other Nigerian doctors who want to go to other parts of Nigeria to ensure this problem is reduced to the barest minimum in Nigeria.

It is good that Private Hospitals are beginning to support government in their quest to stop the capital flight caused by medical tourism. However, Government should support these private hospitals to ensure continuous provision of service in the states and the nation.

Individuals having such issues should visit any of the private hospitals in Nigeria, instead of travelling abroad.

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