In a significant gesture of collaboration, an Indian hospital, Apollo Hospitals has extended an offer to train Nigerian doctors in advanced techniques for cancer treatment while also pledging to establish essential infrastructure in Nigeria.
This initiative aims to enhance the capacity of Nigerian medical professionals in combating cancer effectively and improving access to quality healthcare services for patients across the nation.
According to theleadnewsreport.com, Apollo Hospitals, an India Specialist Hospital, offered to train Nigerian doctors on how to treat cancer, a life-threatening disease.
The hospital also announced its intention to establish local medical infrastructure in Nigeria and bring in cutting-edge medical equipment.
Dr. Karthik Anantharaman, Vice President-International at Apollo Hospitals, told journalists in Abuja that his hospital wants to collaborate with local hospitals in Nigeria to help the country reduce medical tourism.
India remains a major destination for Nigerians seeking medical treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses.
According to Anantharaman, Apollo Hospitals alone treats between 1000 and 2000 Nigerian patients each year.
He stated, “We want to be partners in establishing local medical infrastructure in Africa, specifically Nigeria. So Apollo Hospital is now coming to Nigeria with a more strategic goal: to train local doctors.
“Similarly, we are now going to be collaborating with many hospitals on training programmes because we truly believe that if we can train Nigerian doctors and give them the necessary skill sets to treat patients locally, a lot more patients will benefit because not everyone will have the money to travel to India or another country to receive treatment.
“So, if the local doctor has better training and skills, a lot of patients can be treated in the country.” This is our primary focus right now: skill development. Our secondary focus is to form partnerships with local hospitals.
“We want to have stronger partnerships with local hospitals so that we can actually have Apolo staff here to not only train the local doctors, but also to offer full-time medical care through partnerships and their operations and management contract.”
