The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) is planning to spend more than $200 million on the next phase of its investments in the healthcare even as the Ad-hoc Committee was constituted by the House of Representatives to investigate its activities inspected projects undertaken by the Authority and their impact on the economy.
Speaking during oversight inspection of NSIA projects in Lagos, the managing director, NSIA Healthcare Development Investment Company, Dr Tolulope Adewole, revealed ongoing expansion by the Authority, as part of efforts to contribute towards addressing the country’s healthcare challenges.
In his presentation at the inspection of the NSIA LUTH Cancer Center (NLCC), Adewole noted that, the expansion plan is already in motion.
“We had MoUs signed by different states, signed with different tertiary hospitals, and some of the equipment needed are ready to be disbursed.
“We hope to go live in the next 24 months We have a project in which we are building four diagnostic hospitals, in each geo-political zone and that will be done in two phases. We are upscaling from one oncology center to four: one in the north, east, and finally Abuja. The cost is variable, so we can’t say what it will all cost us,” he added.
The members of the House led by the chairman of the Committee, Hon. Ademorin Kuye, having inspected the NLCC, said the lawmakers were impressed with the quality of service being rendered to Nigerians at the cancer Centre.
Since inception, Healthcare has been a keen area of focus for the Authority, deriving from this, the NSIA Healthcare Development Investment Company was established to catalyze private sector investments to address the infrastructure gaps in the healthcare sector, improves manpower, and forge strategic collaborations to advance healthcare indicators in the country.
Established in 2019, Adewole said, the NLCC, an out-patient cancer center equipped with modern medical infrastructure has attended to over 10,000 unique persons living with cancer and has also deepened capacity of medical and non-medical professionals within the oncology space.
Noting that NLCC has reduced capital flight through medical tourism, Adewole said, the NSIA has also invested in two modern medical diagnostic centers collocated within the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and Federal Medical Center, Umuahia respectively.
He furthered that the NSIA is in the process of scaling these interventions, with 3 additional Oncology centres, 23 additional diagnostic centres and 7 catheterization laboratories across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
NSIA’s wholly owned medical services portfolio company, Medserve has been set up to implement these projects.
The committee chairman said the facilities align with the vision and commitment of government to ensure affordable and efficient cancer care for Nigerians.
He explained that, “we are investigating how much has been put into the development of this place. We have seen a lot of modern medical equipment that has been brought to this place.
“We are also seeing the quality of service being rendered to Nigerians and we are impressed and we will go back to report to the entire parliament and tell them that we need more of this in other places.”
He revealed that, while talking to patients that they met during the oversight, they, “admitted that the charges here are the lowest compared to what happens in other areas like Ghana and other African countries. They are still pleading that the government should subsidize it more.
“We noted suggestions, which will be taken to the house to deliberate on. Nigeria already has centres for treating infectious diseases with qualified experts on it. But we will continue to develop more, we do not have enough cancer centers and there is need for more investment in our health sector. And the government has assured us that they will continue to do that. And we at the parliament, will continue to appropriate sufficient funds.”
