A United States of America (U.S.)-based Nigerian medical doctor and Proprietor of Las Vegas Pain Institute and Medical Centre, Dr. Godwin Maduka, has called on the Federal Government to support local research initiatives into tropical diseases and other viral infections. His call came as the second wave of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is creating fears in the minds of health agencies in the country.
Maduka also challenged scientists and medical practitioners to engage in capacity-building to enable them respond promptly in providing solution to future pandemics, lamenting that the pandemic nearly caught the country panting.
Speaking with reporters in Abuja, the Anambra State-born medical doctor lamented the worsening state of healthcare in the country and called for collaboration between government and health experts within and outside the country.
Maduka said: “Healthcare in Nigeria is something we have to take very seriously. For that to happen, we need to go into research in terms of the tropical diseases and viral infections as we have seen with the COVID-19 so that in future, if something like this happens, we will not be caught napping as experienced recently, which caused a lot of panic among the populace.
“It is about time we put our heads together and changed the direction of healthcare not just in Anambra, but in the whole of Nigeria. That was why we put up a 17-storey building to be able to conduct research and training of health workers. It might not be a hospital for everybody, but those diseases which need experts from all over the world to work there. We already built hospitals to take care of the local community.
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“I am calling on the Federal Government to assist us in our quest to build a research hub, just like you have in Cleveland Clinic in America, which they use for research. Our healthcare delivery is not at par with the rest of the world and the time has come to revolutionise the sector to reduce dependency on other countries.”
Maduka called for caution in the ongoing debate of zoning of political offices in the country. Though he called for equity among the federating units, he counselled the nation’s political leaders to de-emphasise tribalism in Nigeria’s leadership recruitment process.
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