Private hospitals are leading state-run facilities in the race to make Nigeria a hub of kidney transplants  and reduce  the number of patients going abroad for the procedure, a urologist, Dr Olusola Ajamu has said.
He said a little government support could increase access to transplants in a matter of months. A team of local and foreign doctors completed four kidney transplants at Abuja-based Zenith Hospital last week, the second after two previous transplants in May.

“We have few government hospitals in Nigeria who have done some surgeries, like University College Hospital, Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ife, but it is only private hospitals that are championing kidney transplants,” Ajamu told Daily Trust health desk. Ajamu was among four local experts who took part in the surgeries, and two more will hold in October.

An increasing number of private hospitals in Lagos and Abuja have since last year successfully done kidney transplants at costs lower than charges in India, where up to 5,000 Nigerians travel every month for medical care, costing Nigeria up to N78 billion annually, according to some  reports. Olusola said more Nigerians with chronic kidney disease are becoming aware they need dialysis or transplant but the development of kidney transplant is at a stage where it is still capital intensive.