Some of the illnesses for which many individuals seek treatment outside the shores of the country could be obtained at lesser cost and minimal discomfort at some of the nation’s hospitals.
In this report, Winifred ogbebo brings into perspective, the hazards of travelling overseas for medical treatment
Medical Tourism has become a status symbol. It has continued to flourish with high exploitation by the high and the mighty to further drive a wedge between the haves and the haves-not.
Arrest a criminal today and the next day, he is asking for his international passport to enable him to travel to India, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom or Germany for medical treatment.
There’s no gainsaying the fact that the influx of Nigerians seeking medical treatment abroad continues unabated; a fact the minister of health, Prof Christian Onyebuchi Chukwu has often lamented at different fora.
Medical tourism to India and Egypt is big business and many companies openly advertise here in Nigeria. Some of these companies representing hospitals in India advertise in Nigerian Hospitals in collusion with the medical directors and are allowed to speak to doctors directly.
They often invite doctors in these hospitals to refer patients to them for a 10% return on the total cost of treatment. This money is added to the cost of the patients’ treatment and then surreptitiously paid to the doctor.
A neurologist, Dr Biodun Ogungbo, disclosed, “We have also heard reports of patients and their relatives being asked to become touts in Nigeria for some Indian Hospitals.They are asked to refer other patients to India for a percentage of the treatment costs.
Some have ended up being coerced into providing fake medical reports and making all sorts of unsubstantiated claims as this becomes a new source of income for them. “
Nigerian hospitals and doctors are not allowed to advertise. Yet, many of these hospitals and businesses in India, Egypt and South Africa do not subscribe to the same ideals we practise.
They openly advertise for patients through the government, both federal and state. Many government officials now prefer to travel abroad for treatment and some even wear it as a status symbol. This is really shameful and not part of nation building.
Sadly, nobody is willing to talk about the effects of medical tourism, and many other patients trudge the same route and end up with similar problems.
The Chief Medical Director of Cedar Crest Hospital, Abuja, Dr Felix Ogendegbe, said, “Hundreds of Nigerians continue to troop out to these areas for unsupervised medical care. When you shop around for a hospital in Nigeria, you can easily see them in person holding meetings with the staff.
But, this type of in-person reconnaissance becomes a little harder to manage if the hospital is in another country. None of these hospitals are vetted by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Health Ministries or the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN)”.
He asked, “Even when the treatments have gone well, who will continue the necessary follow-up care here in Nigeria?
He noted that many patients who have not seen a specialist here before travelling to these countries cannot afford to go back for further treatment and have no one here to continue their care.
“For many conditions, it’s customary to check in with your physician from time to time as you recuperate. However, by receiving treatment in a foreign country, it becomes prohibitively expensive to consult with whoever provided you with primary care.
In fact, for some operations requiring long recovery periods, you’ll need to make postoperative arrangements on your own. The early successful results may then change for the worse especially in many cancer cases.”
On the cost of treatment in travelling overseas for treatment, the neurologist disclosed, “It is more expensive in many cases to have treatment abroad and sometimes that money is wasted if the hospital cannot treat you.
If for example, you do not need treatment, the cost of travel and consultation is wasted. In other cases, additional costs accrue from having a companion travel with you.
You will need to provide money for travel costs, feeding and accommodation for your companion while you get treatment.”
India’s National Health Policy declares that treatment of foreign patients is legally an “export” and deemed “eligible for all fiscal incentives extended to export earnings.
” Government and private sector studies in India estimate that medical tourism could bring between US $1 billion and US $2 billion into the country by 2012. Specifically, it has been reported that India earns about US $260 million from medical tourism from Nigeria alone.
According to Ogendegbe, the health seeking Nigerians forget that some illnesses are so acute requiring immediate medical attention that cannot wait for the flight to other countries.
He says, “Supporting the local hospital and ensuring that it has both personnel and equipment may be the difference between life and death.
Conditions such as road traffic accidents can kill within minutes to hours if nothing is done, precluding time to get a visa, air ambulance and even the foreign exchange necessary to travel out.
For example, if a former or serving Nigerian president, senator, governor or government functionary collapses with stroke – what is the probability of getting a visa, flight ticket, booking a hotel, etc. and getting the required emergency care in India, Germany, UK or USA to save his or her life within a few hours?
Who provides the emergency resuscitation and care necessary here before travelling? Which hospitals have been equipped and personnel trained to provide acute level of care in such situations and in major disasters such as the current problems with sectarian and political violence?”
Besides, there is also the consideration of the impact on local doctors, as explained by the experts.
“The key issue is that such medical tourism is eroding the fabric of our own health services and further depleting the nation of medical facilities and expertise. It demoralises local medical practitioners and increases the brain drain.
It reduces the training of medical students, further creating substandard and poorly trained doctors to look after us all in the future.”
“We recognise the fact that over time, Nigerian doctors and hospitals have lost the trust and respect of patients. Rather than seeing this as a reason to seek medical attention elsewhere this should be a call and pressure applied to the government to optimise and improve our facilities and expertise. Patients are best served by medical treatment provided close to where they live; particularly in emergencies.”
The consensus is often that this is something we have to embrace for now since our medical facilities leave us open to severe competition from abroad.”
Speaking at the Association of Resident Doctors’ (ARD) 1st Intellectual week at the National Hospital Abuja Chapter on the theme “ Enhancing Healthcare Delivery through Local Research.’’
The former Chief Justice of the Federation, Alh Alfa Belgore, decried the situation when Nigeria had so many colleges of medicines and doctors who were properly trained to manage certain health conditions but are saddled with ill -equipped health facilities.
He said, “I believe our doctors are the best trained anywhere in the world and the problem is that they are not availed the facilities in post qualification training on new development.”
For example, he said, up to recent years, Nigeria and Egypt used to supply doctors to Saudi Arabia, and they never performed badly”.
However, Ogendegbe opined that the responsibility to bring back the faith and trust by the Nigerian populace in the healthcare systems in the long term rest with all Nigerians.
http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/20283/2012/03/26/you_travel_abroad_treatment.html
Medical Tourism Resource Online