From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
Medical experts have decried the loss incurred by the Nigerian government to medical tourism yearly, lamenting that the country loses about 1.2 billion dollars to medical tourism annually.
Experts and stakeholders in the health sector who gathered at the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo, for the fourth annual Public Health Grand Round organised by the Faculty of Public Health of the institution came up with the discovery.
The Public Relations Officer of the university, Mr Isaac Oluyi, in a statement released on Thursday, gave the theme of the programme as “Health systems strengthening: Building resilience for the future.”
According to Oluyi, the keynote speaker at the event, Dr Habibu Yahaya, who is the World Health Organization (WHO) Coordinator in Ondo State, submitted that “health systems fragility results in about 1.2 billion US dollars loss from the Nigerian economy to medical tourism yearly.”
He said, “This is not unconnected with the shocks often experienced by the country’s health system,” noting that “Nigerian health systems face acute shocks, including epidemics, pandemics, and chronic stressors like poor funding and persistent strikes.”
Earlier, the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Adolphus Loto, stressed the importance of system resilience in public health.
He said, “A system has both input and output,” adding that “resilience is the ability of the system to withstand pressure without breaking.”
To this end, he said, “Building our health system to resist shocks while continuing to deliver essential services is non-negotiable.”
The medical experts posited that one of the factors responsible for weak health systems is the human resource gap.
The panellists at the event, drawn from academia, government, and the health sector, emphasised the need for task shifting, improved remuneration, sustainable health financing, emergency preparedness and health security, community engagement and equity, innovation and research, better referral systems, and the use of accurate workforce data to strengthen the health systems in Nigeria.
In her welcome address, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Public Health, Professor Ofonime Johnson, described the Grand Round as an annual scientific gathering that provides a platform for discussing emerging public health challenges.
