The Guild of Medical Directors in Nigeria has said it would cut over $500 billion estimated to be spent by Nigerians on medical treatment abroad by a half to help save the nation’s economy and health care services from crisis.Philips said medical tourism was one of the ways through which the nation loses its fortunes, and that promises by government to halt the trend over the years have not yielded positive results. The partnership seeks to allow doctors who operate their own hospitals buy health equipment at cheap prices from the company, while payment will be made on instalment. Devices to be purchased include those that are used for treating killer diseases such as cancer, hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis among others, Philips said.
He explained that with the arrangement, doctors managing their own hospital in the country could, with the approval of the guild, get any equipment they want from the firm without any collateral, by paying only 10 percent of the cost, while the remaining payment is stretched over a period of time.
“We’ve been talking about how we could stem medical tourism down, there has always been talk and talk, but no action. But, we want to walk as we talk …. the whole idea is that doctors can now choose equipment they want for their practice and pay for it in a friendly manner. Not the one that will give you hypertension or make you die before you get the equipment, or to get the money. We had contact with other equipment dealers, but found out that Biostadt Siemens is the one that will benefit us. That is why we decided to go into this partnership with them.
Source:Nationalmirror
