According to Prof. Darlington Obaseki, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), the facility performed its first open heart surgery in January 2023.
This was said by Obaseki on Tuesday in Benin during the launch of 50%-subsidized specialized surgeries as a part of celebrations for the hospital’s 50th anniversary, which will be held in May.
The CMD said that Mr. Phillip Shaibu, the Deputy Governor of Edo, has reduced the medical fee for one of the three patients who underwent open heart surgery.
He commended the deputy governor for being a pillar of support to UBTH and for also supporting the 50 percent subsidized specialized surgeries.
Obaseki said the 50 percent subsidy on specialized procedures such as Endoscopic and Laparoscopic surgeries, Colonoscopy, and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) among others would be done till the end of February.
”We started at the beginning of this month. As of today, we have 115 patients for surgeries, anybody screened and certified free to undergo surgery would benefit from the program,” he said.
The CMD said that although Nigeria could take care of its citizens’ health needs, the medical tourism situation was responsible for citizens’ inability to place value on what it had.
”We need to advertise ourselves because the general society doesn’t seem to reckon on the medical professionals in Nigeria, we are up to the task, not until we travel,” he said.
According to him, the country is losing so much money to medical tourism when there is qualified medical personnel in Nigeria.
”There is a new report on the health market in Nigeria commissioned by Pharmaset Foundation which indicated that Nigeria is losing huge money to medical tourism.
”As of 2021, the value of the medical tourism market, the amount of money Nigerians spend going to seek healthcare abroad is 1.9 billion dollars annually’’.
”Every month, 9,000 Nigerians seek medical care outside Nigeria and a majority of them go to India.
”The question is why do they go out to seek care? Some of the things they go out for are the things we are doing here.”
He said that Nigerians must learn to contribute cheerfully to the health sector, adding that a true philanthropist was one who contributed to the health needs of his people.
Also speaking, the deputy governor, Shaibu commended the CMD for breaking new ground in the health sector and for making the hospital a center of excellence.
He said that the state government had always leveraged the facilities, expertise of the personnel, and technological advancements of the hospital to drive health reform in the state.
Shaibu also called on Nigerians to show love by contributing their quota to the development of the health sector.
Mr. Lucky Adubi, one of the patients, who benefitted from the subsidized specialized surgeries, commended the hospital for making him see the light at the end of the tunnel.
He sought sustainability of the subsidized surgeries so as to give succor to the poor.
