Victor EzejaA group of Nigerian medical professionals in the Diaspora under The New Tribe of Patriots has unveiled a programme to assist in the healthcare of the people in the country.
The group, called Health is Wealth Cohort, under The New Tribe movement, volunteered to offer healthcare assistance to Nigerians to complement the efforts of the government in the health sector.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAt the formal launch of The New Tribe of Patriots in Lagos on Tuesday, October 1, an MoU on medical emergencies was signed with three states of Nasarawa, Oyo, and Abia where the pilot programme will kick off.
In a presentation during The New Tribe launch, Dr Abiodun Olatidoye, who is a member of the Health is Wealth Cohort, highlighted their citizen-led initiative on healthcare intervention in the country.
Dr Olatidoye, a Nigerian cardiologist based in Atlanta Georgia, United States, who represented the healthcare cohort of the New Tribe in the Diaspora, said their members are comprised of Nigerian healthcare professionals in the Diaspora.
He said their areas of focus in the healthcare intervention include massive national sensitization about non-communicable diseases that pose a high threat to lives such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory conditions. He said this is to promote awareness, leading to early detection, screening, and interventions to modify the relevant risk factors and appropriate lifestyle changes by the people.
He added that another area of focus of the health cohort is on family planning. According to him, proper family planning is essential for the social, economic and psychological well-being for every family and even society at large.
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Dr Olatidoye also emphasised that much as it is important to build world-class medical facilities, establishing a formidable medical emergency system is also necessary because patients need to be alive to reach hospitals for proper medical care after becoming ill, sustaining injuries or being involved in accidents.
“To this end, we plan to pilot the implementation of a viable emergency medical system programme in three states across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Those three states include Nasarawa, Oyo and Abia. Our hope of doing this is to transform the pre-hospital aspect of our care and save many lives,” Olatidoye explained.
He said their intention of doing that is to transform the “pre-hospital aspect of healthcare and save many lives.”
He pointed out that the emergency medical system will go beyond enhancing the physical wellbeing of the people as it would also have economic implications including job creation for young people who will be trained with requisite skills.
Another aspect of the health cohort’s intervention is telemedicine project. “When this is rolled out, we hope to leverage the expertise of Nigerian physicians in the diaspora in providing medical care and consultations in rural areas by deploying the state of the art communication strategy,” he stated.
The cardiologist said these initiatives would complement the intermittent medical missions in the country already being undertaken by some Nigerian medical experts in the Diaspora.
He called on others who had opportunities to acquire better education and skills and are now well-placed, to also see the need in offering such services in areas that government is lacking while shunning ethnic sentiments in all they in the spirit of common humanity.
Also, in a presentation Nigerian emergency medicine physician in the Atlanta area of the United States, Dr Wasiu Adisa, highlighted the emergency medicine plan put articulated by the group for implementation in the country he said it is important to have a good healthcare system for people to receive the care that they need and prevent premature death. He said having emergency medical services will help to save lives especially in rural areas.
Prime Business Africa reports that The New Tribe of Patriots founded by Professor Pat Utomi and other patriotic Nigerians, was formally launched on Tuesday, October 1 when the country marked her 64th independence anniversary.
The New Tribe of Patriots’ goal is to drive social change that would lead to progress in different sectors in the country.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
