With LUTH’s new status, there’s no need Nigerians travelling abroad for medical treatment
–Prof Osibogun, CMD
By AZOMA CHIKWE
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

•Osibogun PHOTO: The Sun Publishing

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The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has set up a private diagnostic wing and private wards to cater for Nigerians who have been travelling out for medical examinations and treatment.

Stating this during a courtesy visit of the House Committee on Health to the teaching hospital, Prof. Akin Osibogun, Chief Medical Director, LUTH, said that the advantage of this is that it would conserve for the country foreign exchange.

He said to get a full treatment for cancer in South Africa using the Linear accelerator, cost about the equivalent of a million Naira, but LUTH will offer the same treatment for N200, 000.
He also noted that Nigerians go abroad for treatment because they want some level of privacy and comfort and the private wards will offer this to those who can afford it.

His words: "We appreciate the efforts of the government in supporting the hospital. We are one of the first batch of hospital to benefit from the Vamed Engineering Project. We have equipment ranging from CT scanners, MRS and other equipments that you can think of. We are hoping that soon we will start our private wing. We have a private diagnostic wing and we have our private ward, which we are starting soon, that will help us cater for that special Nigerians who have been travelling out for medical examinations and medical treatment.

‘All they need will be available in this hospital. We already have the equipment and we are putting in place the machineries. In summary, what we are seeing is a Lagos University Teaching Hospital that is being repositioned to meet the health needs of Nigerians.

"Currently, courtesy of the Vamed Engineering project, we have a linear accelerator, which is the top of the range equipment for the management of cancer. I am drawing attention to the linear accelerator, in particular, because it is an equipment that will help us manage cancer patients effectively in Nigeria. There is one currently functioning at the National Hospital, that is the only other one functioning in Nigeria today.

"The one in Lagos is functioning, but we are not using it. I think I should let you know that we are not using it because we need a licence from the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority. We’ve held meetings with them and we’ve reached an agreement as to the procedure for obtaining that licence. Hopefully by the end of this month, they will give us a temporary licence. And then we will start putting patients on the machine.

"The advantage of the linear accelerator over Cobolt 60, another machine for cancer management, is that it can treat both superficial cancer and deep-seated cancer. The Cobolt 60 is best for deep-seated cancer, but the linear accelerator can do both. So, if you have a cobolt 60, we still have needed another kind of equipment. This equipment allows to treat all kinds of cancers. And because it is specialized, it allows us to determine where exactly we want to deliver the radiation.

It works with a CT scanner. The CT scanner helps us to visualize, to see and determine the depth and location of the tumour. We have a treatment planning room. In fact, we stimulate the treatment before we actually treat the patient, so that we determine the exact location, the nature of tumour, then we deliver the appropriate dose of radiation precisely. It is a very precise machine to treat cancer.

"The main problem in Nigeria is that most of the time people deny that they have a cancer. And because they deny they will not come for treatment until they are very advanced. We have facilities for early detection, we have a mammography that can help us to pick cancer easily. If people can come out on time and be detected, we either remove or support with radiotherapy, the patients can live for decades again, provided it is detected at stage zero or stage one. Once it gets into stage three and stage four, nobody may help.

"So, the advantage of this is that it would conserve, for us foreign exchange. To get a full treatment in South Africa using this equipment, you need about N1 million per treatment. But since we have this machine, the highest we are thinking of charging is about N200, 000. Because it has been provided by public funds. This is because the machine is very, very expensive.

But of course, there are different stages of treatment, it depends on what we need to do for a particular patient, I just give a rough ideas of the price comparison, but in South Africa, the price is as much as the equivalent of a million Naira.

"I believe that the idea of patients going abroad for treatment will become a thing of the past. That is very feasible now. We have the equipment and we have qualified personnel.

However, there will still be small percentage of patients, who I will call medical tourists. They just want a change of environment, you can’t stop them if they have the money. But it won’t be because we don’t have the equipment or we don’t have the manpower. We have the equipment and we have the manpower. Government is helping the hospital to re-position itself to serve Nigerians better.

"The private wings and wards are places where patients, who want more privacy and who can afford it stay. The hospital serves both the rich and the poor. But you know some Nigerians travel abroad because they want some level of privacy and they want some level of comfort. If they can pay for that privacy and comfort, we give it to them."