By Sola Ogundipe
AS the nation clocked50 last week, the promise of access to affordable comprehensive healthcare services became more realisable courtesy of a partnership between Union Diagnostics & Clinical Services Plc, Lagos and Global Hospital, India.

In the bid to strengthen the nation’s drive for increased access to expanded comprehensive healthcare services, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the two parties last week.

In a chat with Good Health Weekly, the Managing Director/CEO, Union Diagnostics & Clinical Services, Dr Olusola Akinniyi, said the agreement was a benefit package targeted at all Nigerians irrespective of social class or status.

“This agreement is a marriage of two excellent couples. It is between Union Diagnostics with 17 branches nationwide offering comprehensive diagnostic services in the six geopolitical zones of the country and Global Hospital, India, a cutting edge hospital and the largest health facility for organ transplant in India.”

From right Dr. Olusola Akinniyi, Managing Director, Union Diagnostics PLC Nigeria; Ambassador Bariu Adeyemi, Chairman and Mr. Khalid Rasheed, Vice President, Global Hospital, India at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between Union Diagnostics PLC, Nigeria and Global Hospital, India held in Lagos recently.

Justifying the need for the MOU, Akinniyi said: “If we look at the services for which Nigerians queue for abroad, one of the most common is renal transplant which Global Hospital offers. This is one of the reasons we have agreed to partner  to bring succour to our people at very affordable costs to ensure that the logistics are taken off them and that  treatments are seamless.”

The Chairman of Union Diagnostics, Ambassador Bariyu Adeyemi described the partnership as another laurel in the cap of the health facility.“Global Hospitals is a distinguished externalpartner. In partnership with an excellent and sophisticated centre as Union Diagnostics with state-of-the- art services in diagnostics and clinical services, our objective is to move to the next level with the aim of increasing access to healthcare services in Nigeria.

In a statement, the Vice President Global Hospitals, Mr. Khalid Rasheed, noted that hospitals in India have been providing surgical services for Nigerians for several years and have done so reasonably well due to escalating costs of going to America and the United Kingdom.

“We are one of the largest transplant centres in India where transplants of various organs including the heart, liver, kidneys and others are routinely carried out. We can mutually expand our relations to our benefit and make health services and healthcare services affordable  to the average Nigerian and it is to this purpose that Global Hospitals and Union Diagnostics Clinical services are entering into this partnership in order to strengthen the base of our healthcare services in Nigeria,”he remarked. We will be giving all the support and technical know-how”.