The Managing Director, Union Diagnostic and Clinical Services Plc., Dr Olusola Akinniyi, has stressed the need for governments at all levels to prioritise the welfare and health needs of the citizens in a bid to end the problem of infrastructural deficit being witnessed in the land today.
Akinniyi said the experience during the COVID-19 outbreak in the country had taught us as a nation that medical tourism should be largely discouraged because no nation would abandon its own citizens to cater for others during a global outbreak like COVID-19.
He said, therefore, that those in positions of authority should pay attention to the advancement of the health sector.
The MD of Union Diagnostic and Clinical Services Plc, spoke in Ibadan, on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the opening of the new company building at Mokola, Ibadan.
He noted that the global epidemic had left Nigeria and other developing nations of the world disillusioned as the global communities drifted to the threshold of struggle for survival.
He said, “The COVID-19 outbreak has taught us as a nation that we need to expand our health infrastructures. Looking at it critically, you will note that the COVID-19 pandemic reinforces the fact about the world that we live in as a place of struggle for survival; you put your interest first.
“At the peak of the pandemic, nations of the world were drifted to the threshold of survival of the fittest.
“If there is another outbreak in the future, we have learnt that China will first of all look at the welfare of its citizens before considering the interest of other nations. Before exporting drugs or reagents to other countries, it would consider its own interest first.
“It then means that we should take a queue from the present situation across the globe and start to do our own thing and make our institutions strong and running. Pharmaceutical companies that are into buying drugs from overseas should look at the possibility of manufacturing the products locally.
“Likewise, those that are buying reagents should consider the possibility of manufacturing locally. When the chips are down, you first take care of yourself before others.”
Dr Bashir Bello, Commissioner for Health in Oyo State, who was represented on the occasion by Dr Wale Falana, applauded the initiative of the medical outfit.
Falana, Director, Secondary Healthcare and Training in the state, said the entry of the medical facility would complement efforts of the state government in its drive towards boosting health service delivery in the state.
Akinniyi said the medical laboratory was positioned to serve as a one-shop diagnostic centre for all medical tests.
