The Nigeria Health Sector has received an additional boost as the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) commits $100 million investment in to it.
The NSIA Managing Director, Uche Orji who disclosed this at the Authority’s Healthcare Expansion Programme agreement signing ceremony with some tertiary health institutions, and three state governments, in Abuja said funded hospitals and diagnostic centres have been able to provide quality healthcare that meet international standards.
He explained that the benefiting centres needed huge investments in order to provide state-of-the-art equipment that could compete with the best hospitals in the world, with a view to cutting medical tourism and retaining Nigerian medical personnel in the country.
He said the initial project which started as a cancer treatment programme in Lagos now has more than 200,000 patient encounters and continuing adding that Lagos Centre is currently operating on a mantra of high-quality reasonable price.
Speaking on the exodus of Nigerian health workers, he said the programme has not recorded any exit from its medical staff and that those sent abroad for specialized training returned home after such training. The deals sealed in Abuja were for the expansion of the NSIA Diagnostics and Oncology Expansion Programme.
Under the agreements, the NSIA Healthcare Development and Investment Company an NSIA Company would work with five Federal Medical Centres and three State Governments Lease and Collaboration.
The medical centres include: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi, Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Federal Medical Centre Asaba, Delta, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Akwa Ibom and University College Hospital Board of Management, Oyo state.
The state governments that entered partnership deals with the NSIA were Enugu, Kaduna and Kwara.
Under the programme the authority aims to establish 23 diagnostic centres, seven catheterization labs and two oncology centres across Nigeria.
