Nigeria: India and Healthcare Delivery in Nigeria

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Lagos — Quality and affordable healthcare delivery is one challenge that Nigeria still battles with. While government at various levels have carried out reforms at one time or the other in the healthcare system, the fact remains that most of the Nigerian hospitals still lack infrastructure of international standard. This situation has made Nigerians especially those with the wherewithal to seek medical treatment abroad. This of course, comes with its consequence, high cost of accessing medical treatment overseas.

Accordingly, the media was a washed this week with report when the new Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Ghanashyam Rangaiah, disclosed his government’s readiness to establish more Indian hospitals across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

Rangaiah told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the initiative was to make India’s medical facilities accessible and affordable to Nigerians in various communities.

The envoy, who decried the high cost of travelling and medical expenses being paid by Nigerians in India, said it was better to bring the hospitals closer to them.

“As the new India High Commissioner to Nigeria, I feel it is too expensive for Nigerians to continue to go to India for medical attention. We have discovered that the costs being paid by a Nigerian patient going to India for treatment is even more than the treatment itself.

Source: AllAfrica (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care