Mr. Achebe’s body arrived at Abuja without much of the pageantry earlier envisaged.
Hundreds of people were at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International...
Both arms of the National Assembly on Tuesday ratified the emergency rule imposed on three northern sates of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa with the two chambers...
As celebrated author, Chinua Achebe’s final burial rites hold this week, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka in this exclusive interview with Sahara Reporters...
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) will file a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Nigeria’s government of human rights...Nigeria has announced it will release a number of Boko Haram members, including all women, in what it called a peace bid as its military waged operation...Nigeria’s poverty rate should be falling faster given its economic growth this decade, a senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said...
About 120 militant Islamists have been arrested in Nigeria's north-eastern city of Maiduguri, as they were organising the burial of a commander, an army...Nigeria’s military is chasing Islamist fighters as they flee to the borders of Chad and Niger from the northeast, where President Goodluck Jonathan has...
A WAR of words is now raging between two frontline Ijaw sons, Prof. Tam David-West and Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, over comments on President Goodluck...Specialist(s) Hospitals: An Appeal
Health is wealth. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation. Please permit me to use this medium, to make a special appeal to banks, financial institutions, private investors, foreign investors, religious organizations, charity organizations etc to invest in the nation’s health sector. That is to build specialist(s) hospitals and possibly commercialize them. The author is making this special appeal because of the followings;
(A)
(B) Just today (1st August 2011) at about 17:00 hrs United Kingdom time, the author made a call to a Nigerian lady, at a hospital in New Delhi , India . As at the time of calling, she had spent a month at this hospital in India .
(C) As at the time of writing (1/8/11), the highly revered Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, is still in a London hospital. He has been in London hospital since December 2010.
(D) The late President Yar’Adua was evacuated to a Saudi Arabian hospital. He spent nearly 3 months there.
The list is endless. Since the government cannot equip, maintain and train health workers to international standards then, a vacuum exists that the private sector should fill. Healthcare can be very expensive; therefore, the author supports profits maximization by any private investor in our health care industry. This cannot be compared to flying to India , UK , USA , South Africa , Saudi Arabia etc for overseas treatment. The private sector has done well in most industries, examples include, telecommunication, education (private schools, tertiary and universities), banking, transport, etc. Therefore, their next target should be the health sector. The religious organizations should also consider establishing, specialist(s) hospitals of international standards. The author is aware that some churches have already built hospitals, but more specialist centres are needed from them.
Not too long ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced plans to build a poultry farm, which upon completion will be the largest in Nigeria . This is part of CBN diversification project. The author agrees with the central bank on this project. After all, “We don’t need more bankers. What we need are more farmers” (Time Magazine, July 11, 2011 Edition. Page 40). The Central Bank should seriously consider building a world class hospital in Nigeria , at least to stem the tide of capital flights occasioned by overseas treatments.
This might be out of their scope, but there will be nothing wrong if the CBN takes the lead, or use policy instruments to support the establishment of world class hospitals in Nigeria. The time is now. May God bless Nigeria.
Chinedu Vincent Akuta.
An Activist and Citizens Journalist.
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http://briefsfromakuta.blogspot.com
