By Milton Tella – The problems bedevilling Nigeria in the area of healthcare delivery is currently being addressed with a dream project known as African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) in Abuja.
AMCE, is as a result of partnership between African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust via its subsidiary, King’s Commercial Services to provide patient-centred care in Africa.
The representative of Afreximbank, Oluranti Doherty Director Export Development gave an up to date report on the construction of the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) at the event organised to seek the participation of the UK healthcare community on Wednesday 23 November 2022 at the Royal College of Surgeons London.
The Special Guest, His Excellency, High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola OFR, in his keynote address to the gathering, urged the medical professionals to support the project.
He said, “To some of us we don’t have any other country to call ours than Nigeria. We strongly believe in the philosophy that if we don’t develop Nigeria, nobody will come and develop our country for us.”
He further recalled that the past and earlier Nigerians to the UK came for the purpose of education and they returned home. They are the ones that inherited the colonial legacy of education and health.
“I strongly believe that what we have here is going to be a replica of those years, looking forward to a Nigeria whereby we will have the standard we used to have back then.
I want to see the Nigeria of those days, when the royal family of Saudi Arabia used to come for medical care at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. I strongly believe that the journey we are taking today is a step towards that direction and that is why l am here today. The strong relationship between Nigeria and the UK dates back to about two centuries; we all have a duty to nurture it because to an average Nigerian we see the United Kingdom as our home.
This project offers synergy and symbiotic relationship. We must move away from individualism to networking. The world in itself is becoming a global village and until we pull together and push through, the development we desire will be very hard to come by.”
He further said, “This project has the full support of the Nigerian government, that is why l am here and l also want to adopt this project as my own project.
Since my arrival as the High Commissioner in the UK some 18months ago, l have been working on a collaboration with the University UK International (UUKI), to ensure a partnership that will have Nigerian students do three years in accredited universities in Nigeria and come to the UK to finish the last one year to earn a British degree.
With the amount of money Nigerians spend on healthcare outside Nigeria, Nigerians by nature do value life and spend more in acquiring good healthcare; I strongly believe that with the crop of Nigerian-British here, I am very confident that this project will succeed. This is the right project, it is quite viable, I endorse it, l support it and I am willing to be part of it.”
Oluranti Doherty, Director Export Development, Afreximbank is in the UK to bring the healthcare community up to speed with the on-going work on the project in Abuja, Nigeria.
Oluranti said, “The aim of the African Medical Centre of Excellence is to promote healthcare services for Africans with a delivery date set at early 2025.
The Centre will specialise in Cardiology, Haematology and Oncology. This facility is set to make a positive and decisive impact on non-communicable disease care across Nigeria as a pilot case and the target is the provision of quality healthcare in Africa.
King’s will support the development of the AMCE by providing clinical expertise and protocols, assurance on quality, guidance on facility and service set-up, as well as the recruitment to key posts and provision of education and training.
The project is at the foundation stage and about to advance to the first floor. The 500 – bed hospital facility in Apo, Abuja is being developed by Cappa & D’Alberto Plc.”
She acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria who provided land for the project, UK Department of Trade, Nigeria High Commission London, Bank of Industry Nigeria, African Finance Corporation, General Electrics and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Brian Deaver, CEO of AMCE said, “Nigeria has a long history of leadership on the African continent, occupying number one in population, arts & culture, economy, agriculture and oil production but currently occupies number five in healthcare delivery on the continent behind South Africa, Tunisia, Kenya and Algeria. With this project AMCE intends to raise Nigeria to number one position, providing a full spectrum of medical services in oncology, cardiology and haematology along with world- class research, education and development capabilities. The AMCE will provide world-class care to both low and high-income patients groups.”
Dr. Aisha Umar, Chief Medical Officer AMCE and former Director of Medical Services at the Nigeria National Hospital Abuja, having served for over 22 years, narrated how she took the leap of faith to join the team of AMCE.
Aisha said, “This dream project seeks to solve two main problems, medical tourism and brain drain. This project is going to be a game changer. AMCE has the commitment and backing of one of the foremost multilateral finance institutions to ensure the human resource that we recruited will not be allowed to walk away as we see it happen daily.
The focus is on those areas why patients leave the country for other places. This project will help to ensure that the lives of the people in Africa change.”
Aisha reminded the gathering of what happened during Covid and how patients with money could not even access healthcare.
She concluded with a passionate call on medical professionals in the Diaspora to consider leaving their comfort zones so as to be part of this project.
Aisha added, “You have the experience, the expertise, that is all we are looking for to make this project a success.”
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