From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Medical Director of Alliance Hospital, Dr Christopher Otabor, has said Nigeria now has competent hospitals and personnel to handle cases of kidney transplant and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
Otabor stated this during the launch of
the hospital’s 64 slice revolution maxima CT scan and invitro-fertilization centre.
According to him, in most countries, Nigerians would have to wait endlessly because of the number of patients who are in need of treatment when they can easily be treated in the country.
He said: “With advancement of contemporary Nigerian society and women empowerment in terms of career pursuit, many of our women now get into their thirties before settling down in marriage.
“Science has shown that reproductive efficiency reduces with female age. A good number of the women getting married and desiring to be pregnant
will require some form of assistance for them to achieve that desire.
“From my investigations, I found out a few things; The waiting list for kidney transplant in the UK is painfully long, the legal issues around donors are complex and, the cost of arranging for private transplant is prohibitive.
“The Polish patient took the easy way out by coming to Alliance Hospital, and it paid off for her.
“I must not fail to let you know that we billed her almost twice the fee for regular Nigerian patients and she was too happy to pay because even our bill to her was less than 20% of what she would have paid for a private kidney transplant in the UK.”
He explain that the centre would play its own part in contributing to the solution of infertility through the IVF centre.