Moving the profile of Nigeria’s health sector from the corridor of Third World

Investing in research for innovations and inventions to boost development in Nigeria remains a course which is resoundingly significant to put Nigeria in the limelight of meaningful definitions of a modern nation of a civilised entity of the 21st Century. The categorisation of Nigeria within the corridor of the third world nations, has its expression borne by the clogging of backward state of sectoral profile of endeavours in the Country. The clustering of deficiencies which in their manifestations largely offset sectoral performance than boost growth for upward development, have seen perusal of these sectors attracting results of definitions of underproductivitiy. The compounding of the profile has formed the basis of the macro categorisation of the Country along the lines of the underdeveloped world.

One of the sectors in the Country which has remained ravaged with deficiencies and by large remains at the corridor of strains of discordance is the health sector. The sector ravaged with deficiencies has continued to put the profile of healthcare in the Country under the categorisation of poor management, such that its place in the human capital index of the Country do not reflect any positivity for better narratives. The nausea of the defects ravaging the sector has left behind unsavoury conditions which have been the grounds for several phenomena, including the narratives of incessant industrial actions and brain drain among others.

The paucity of uncoordinated efforts to develop responsive systems that proactively cater for parameters that leave on ground an architecture that propel research for innovations and inventions in the sector have been a major bane. The deficiencies notwithstanding, it is observable that there are still intellectuals and patriotic experts still committed to breaking grounds in the sector despite all odds. On Wednesday (October 27), it was reported that the  Afe Babalola University Multi-System Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD,  recorded its first kidney transplant after a procedure that lasted five hours, fifteen minutes (5:15hrs). The feat goes into record as the first of its kind in Ekiti/Ondo axis of the Country. Report revealed that the procedure was carried out on a 46-year-old player in the Entertainment Industry (name withheld) who was diagnosed to be hypertensive as far back as 2017 and had not been passing urine in the last six months as a result of which he has had difficulty breathing. He also required regular dialysis to keep him alive. A statement by the Director of Corporate Affairs of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Mr. Tunde Olofintila, revealed that the patient who came entirely on his own to the Hospital on April 12, 2021, became critically ill in February 2021 – almost at the point of death. When the patient got to ABUAD Multi-System Hospital in April, he reportedly proceeded to make enquiries about kidney transplantation in ABUAD Hospital which commenced operation about three-and-half years ago.

The Coordinator of the Transplant Programme and Lead Nephrologist with the ABUAD Multi-System Hospital, Dr. Stephen Olawale Oguntola, speaking on the feat was quoted, “The transplant was done simultaneously on Wednesday, October 13, using a dedicated twin-transplant theatre right here in this Hospital, thus making it the first successful kidney transplant in Ekiti/Ondo axis of the country. The kidney function started improving right inside the theatre with the new kidney producing 2.3 litres of urine before the end of surgery which lasted for 5 hours, 15 minutes. Thereafter, the kidney function has continued to make a sustained improvement. We are very happy about the way both the donor and recipient have responded to the procedure. Both of them are in very high spirits. In fact, the donor was discharged on October 20 and with the look of things, the recipient will be discharged in a couple of days to start his normal life after the transplant.”

In the narration of his experience, the  patient who reportedly had been to the Indian Embassy thrice but could not get a visa because of COVID-19, was quoted, “When I got here for the first time, I was surprised that a lawyer could put a gigantic hospital like this in place. At some point, I asked myself how a lawyer could think of this type of thing for humanity. This has endeared me to him the more.”

On the details of the processes, he was quoted, “When I brought the first prospective donor, he was found not to be fit to donate. I then brought in the second prospective donor. Again, he was found not to be fit. Then I brought in a third, my brother-in-law. After all the screenings, the third prospect was found to be fit. We were all happy and convinced that we were getting a solution to the problem. It was then the series of counselling session for both of us, the donor and recipient, began. We were severally counselled.”

The feat is a clear ticket that against all odds, there are experts in the field within the Country, who are committed to making things happen for better narratives of the profiling of the sector. The need for incentives and positive  interventions to encourage such drive is pertinent to keep hope alive among experts in the field. By initiating such incentives to create enabling environment for health experts and stakeholders to further delve into adventurous courses for inventions and innovations, a close move towards changing the narratives of the increasing desertion of the sector by health workers who go to seek greener pastures abroad, would significantly begin to take the evidence of reality. The necessity to begin to work along the lines of coordinated interventions to boost sectoral performance in the Country is paramount to lift the Country from the scourge of deficiencies which, by compounding impacts, have been the ground for rough classification of the Country as a third world nation.