July 10, (THEWILL) – United Kingdom-based Nigerian Trauma/Orthopaedic Surgeon and CEO of Annomo Health, Dr Chichi Menakaya, speaks with Anthony Awunor on the challenges facing the Nigerian health sector and the way forward. Excerpts:
As an international premium medical concierge, which services does Annomo Health offer?
Creating Annomo Health as a leading premium healthcare concierge company, we set out with the aim to offer health services that connects the best doctors or hospitals in a saturated healthcare market to the client, based on experience, competency, efficacy, quality and at same time luxury.
Eight years on, we have built a 360-degree personalised service dictated by the needs and wants of our clients. We provide an exclusive and bespoke priority access to the world’s best doctors, hospitals and lifestyle. The stakes were high when we started, so we found the best of the best and brought them to our clients. Our doctors are experts who have honed their skills to perfection.
We have been able to create the luxury of healthcare today. Our lifestyle partners have been thoroughly vetted, we understand discretion and confidentiality. We are the upper echelon in the business. We have an inhouse dedicated concierge company that handles travel, accommodation, private education, property wealth, holidays, tailored food services and much more. Our service was born so that people concentrate on their busy lives while we sort out things that matter the most. There’s no mistaking the sense of assuredness that when it comes to healthcare, having total confidence in one’s chosen doctor is of utmost importance- even more so when we are seeking healthcare outside our home countries.
As a medical doctor, what is your advice to Nigerians in terms of making health care their priority?
I always ask why people don’t worry about the cost of designer bags or an expensive holiday or data for social media as much as they worry about paying for healthcare. Nigerians struggle to understand preventive medicine. In most people’s mind, their health is pretty good because they feel completely “well” in themselves. However, one day, they go to sleep and not wake up the next day. When the cause of death is announced to be due to a heart problem, everyone around is too perplexed to realise that a simple health screening may have meant that the deceased could have received life-saving treatment.
Still in the same family, another person would have an annoying cough and after months of self-prescribed antibiotic treatment for “pneumonia,” a reluctant visit to the doctor will reveal that that cough was Stage 4 lung cancer and they only have six months to live. In the blink of an eye, the world around them comes crashing. I tell people that only a healthy person can enjoy their achievements. If we can invest in fashion, asoebi for parties, properties, cars and other things, despite our economy, how do we struggle to invest in health; the very foundation of our lives. As Nigerians, we need to rethink our health priorities fast.
How do you see the future of health care in Nigeria?
I truly believe that the future of healthcare in Nigeria can be very bright. I say this because the experience of COVID-19 exposed the fragility of health services all over the world and Nigeria was not left out. I believe that the government saw clearly how it is no longer acceptable to just have looming healthcare inequalities since disease is no respecter of social status, age or tribe. We all saw how, even though people had the funds to afford things, the pandemic limited the services they had access to. It was indeed a very sad time.
As the nation continues to exist, we have to upscale our healthcare delivery services and the time is now. It is impressive to build a nice shiny edifice of a hospital with the latest technology in every corner but, if we lack the expertise, experience or the dedication to deliver that service, then the building will lose its’ shine after a period. Nigeria needs to ask for an arm of friendship and invite national and international collaborators with the experience and expertise to offer us initial support while we rebuild our health facilities. Nigeria has to ensure that health is rooted in our communities, so that as a nation we contribute to ensuring that health facilities are properly utilised, maintained and that we build a sustainable institution.
In Nigeria of today, most Nigerians do travel overseas for medical tourism. The reasons some cite for such action is lack of quality medical facilities. What do you think can be done to stop it?
People need to have the free will to seek healthcare anywhere they desire. It is their health and they should be able to control it. However, if our government, private organisations and individuals modernise our existing healthcare institutions with the appropriate medical experts, Nigerians will have an easier choice. I believe a lot of Nigerians who seek medical help abroad would rather be treated in their home countries surrounded by loved ones. At the same time, we can also welcome international medical teams who do not mind coming to Nigeria to help out once, train and build with us.
The healthcare space is a global village and more than ever, healthcare collaboration is paramount to grow our own healthcare. I get countless requests from experts who want to go to Nigeria and offer their services, but we must get our security right to ensure that their work is impactive. It is no longer acceptable to just do medical missions, take pictures and then leave without continuity of care. These collaborations need to be ongoing and not just one off picture opportunities.
In Annomo Health, although our parent company is based in the UK, we recognise the importance of national impact and involvement and therefore work with doctors and allied health professionals based in Nigeria to provide a mirror service in Nigeria where possible. We have clients whose treatments are jointly done by a professor in the UK and one in Nigeria, while the patient sits in his Nigerian home and gets the best treatment surrounded by family. This is not virtual or mobile app consultations. We identify what is available in Nigeria and make up the deficit with our international collaborators. Our ultimate goal is to build such a cohesive team that ensures optimum care to Nigerians and others living in developing countries.
Quite a number of countries do come to Nigeria to poach medical practitioners such as nurses and doctors. What are the implications of such a development?
The brain drain is sad but I cannot blame the doctors or nurses because unless Nigeria starts recognising that the bedrock of nations are built on health and take their doctors and nurses seriously, we will continue to experience this mass emigration.
Other countries recognise the value of our health workers and therefore, pay them the appropriate wages on time, give them a conducive environment and encourage their career growth. With a population of over 200 million people, Nigeria has a doctor/patient ratio of 1:4,250 against the recommended 1:600 by the World Health Organisation. This is mindboggling and distressing. The nurse/patient ratio is even worse than this. At some time, we will be so short of health workers.
A nation without health workers might as well pack up shop and stop existing. Medicine is a rigorous and lengthy career, so after long years of studying, the wages and living conditions needs to be commensurate. This is the incentive to keep health workers in Nigeria. The government needs to realise that health workers are not magicians, they need the right tools, education and support to offer the best care to their patients. We can curb emigration if we change our priorities as a nation. Also, if we get the security right, then diaspora health workers can also begin to give back more to their motherland. COVID-19 is an eye opener to most countries across the globe.
Applying lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, how do you think Nigeria can build a resilient health system that reflects the reality of the times?
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown many vulnerabilities in our global health systems. It has also made nations and people rethink how we see health and our priorities. It caused a rude shock and had profound implications on health, economic progress, trust in the government and social interactions. If we have learnt anything we will realise that for the first time, the entire world realised that “health” controls the world.
Nigeria needs to allocate more funds to our health system. These funds must be accounted for and the impact of its use clearly visible to Nigerians. They need to modernise health institutions, while ensuring that policies are put in place to checkmate our standards. We must introduce robust clinical governance policies in Nigeria to ensure that we maintain any changes we make. We have to increase health education and champion health prevention on a large scale. Only a healthy nation with healthy citizens can truly prosper.
There is no better time than this to build a private and public sector partnership. We must have measures where the highly equipped private hospitals are able to work with the public hospitals for service delivery. Our goals need to be aligned to achieve our dreams.
As a Nigerian practising in UK, do you face any challenges in the course of your duty?
My mother always say that when you face challenges, you must pull up your trousers and keep going. She would add that tough times never last, but tough people do. I was taught from very early stage that challenges should not break you but build you. So I started my job as a doctor in the UK with that as a foundation. As a doctor in the UK there are different challenges. First, there is the issue of acceptance by colleagues and patients. You walk into a job and as an international graduate, everyone looks at you with doubt of your knowledge and skills.
I learnt very early that I do not need to convince anyone of my skills or worth and so I bent down and worked hard so that my actions answered the doubts for me. It can be funny when I see the shock on patient’s faces when I introduce myself as their surgeon. I still get that look till today, decades later. I just smile, reintroduce myself and focus on providing the clinical care they require. It’s not an identification exercise or job interview, it is about saving lives and delivering the best. I have been told that because I was “foreign” that I would never get a job as a surgeon. I have also been told that as a woman, I am too weak to be a surgeon too. These comments are meant to introduce fear and doubts, but hey, as my woman Michelle Obama would say, when they go low we go higher.
I focus on my goals and let their words mix with the air and fly away. I am a very lucky girl. If you grow up in a home where you are allowed to dream as big as you want and you are constantly reminded that you can achieve anything if only you put yourself through the mill and focus on the end game.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
