Ikoyi, VI have world’s highesthospital density – Kuku
Olamilekan Lartey, Ikoyi
Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos have the highest hospital density in the world.
One of the founders of the EKO Hospital Group, Chief Sonny Kuku, said the concentration of high quality medical facilities in both sections of Lagos was an indication of the development in the nation’s health sector.
Speaking with our correspondent in an interview in Warri on Thursday, Kuku said the high hospital density in Ikoyi and Victoria Island was an indication of the financial implication of quality health care delivery.
He said, “If you look around now, every other street has a hospital because of the belief that people can pay.”
He noted, however, that health care delivery in the country was better than what it was at independence.
Kuku lamented, however, that the problem confronting the nation’s medicare was how to provide and maintain the required facilities.
This, he noted, demanded a new health policy, which would include an insurance scheme that would guarantee access to high quality medicare for all Nigerians
He said, “Where the doctors will practise and how they practise and what they will use is the problem we have now. The only way we can deal with it is to encourage the private sector and to encourage third-party payment like the health insurance scheme.”
Kuku noted that there might be hiccups at the beginning, adding that it was the only solution to the nation’s health problems.
He argued that it was the politicians who spread the idea of free health programmes without making adequate provisions in the budget for the service.
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