Since his ground-breaking work in fertility medicine resulting in the birth of a test tube baby named Hannatu, in 1998, Dr. Ibrahim Wada and founder of Nisa Premier Hospital, Abuja, has continued to earn the applause of those whose stories he has used technology to change for good, giving them causes to smile. Apart from being recognized and awarded with the prestigious national award of Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON, by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Dr. Wada’s name has continued to spread across Nigeria’s boundaries because of the extension of his pioneering work in fertility medicine to West African countries and beyond. But Dr. Wada does not crave for media spotlight and actively shies away from any form of exposure. However, after several requests, the Nisa Premier Hospital CEO spoke exclusively with Vanguard’s trio of Soni Daniel, Emma Ujah and Gabriel Ewepu, submitting that with appropriate technology Nigeria can end infertility misery and lead in medical tourism.  Excerpts: 

NISA Premier is one of the best hospitals in the country especially when it comes to fertility medicine. Where did you get the vision from? 

The vision for NISA was what I call a child of necessity. I came back to Nigeria from England in 1994 with a full heart to offload my knowledge and skills in the public domain. Nothing about me had any trace of private practice but my stay in Gwagwalada was riddled with anticipation and failed expectations. After one and half years I was confronted by two choices: to go back to where I came from, like many others or stay at home and try to improve the system. I wouldn’t want to say fight the system but that’s what I was doing. How can a young Nigerian endowed with so much skills and knowledge come home with a large heart to help, leave comfort back in England and he’s here now one and a half years he has not moved, promises, failed promises, and so forth.  So I decided to be different instead of going back. The invitation was there to go back but I said I’m not that kind of guy. 

What was the vision of Nisa?

My special knowledge is how to help childless couples to have their own children, no matter what level of technology is required. I knew it. I was in the forefront in England. So I had to start Nisa from a bare beginning. You can never imagine that when you talk about high tech medicine. The vision was, ‘This country can do it and I am a vehicle that will prove that point’. It is only if I fail that I will go back abroad. And, to be honest, abroad also wanted me, too. The vision was to have a fertility centre that would first produce products that Nigerians can beat their chest that we can do, train other Nigerians so that this technology can be replicated across the country. That has been achieved.  However, my vision was not just to achieve that goal. I still want to go higher and higher all in a bid to give succour to those who really need the technology to make families happy. What we have successfully done is that we have been able to acquire the right technology and domesticate it and it we are getting the result we wanted. What this means is that with this technology we have, we no longer need foreigners to come to our aid in providing medical services to Nigerians as they used to do at the beginning of our work.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            They used to come and help at the very beginning. But then we trained Nigerians with them and Nigerians took over by year 2000, 22 years ago. Today, we have a totally Nigerian team doing it. That is the vision because I did not even know that I would get people with a commitment to buy into that vision, but they did. So the next step was tackling infertility with concrete result and that changed everything about NISA and brought it to prominence. A couple had ten years of infertility. They went through IVF and had twins. This meant the whole world to them. But the only facility where they could deliver their babies was a public medical facility, which was unresponsive. But NISA came with technology that solved the challenges and give Nigeria a new impetus in that regard. In spite of this feat, you still hear nasty comments from some persons instead of praising the technology as being effective. At times you hear something like, ‘See these people have thrown their money to private practice and they are now coming to disturb us that they want to deliver here in the public hospital’. So Nisa had to start maternity service. From maternity service, we had to start newborn service. The National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, came and the vision expanded.  We did not want a situation where in a family one goes here and other goes there. Therefore, we had to bring medicine, surgery and all that. The vision now includes a greater level of training Nigerians. That is for the Postgraduate Medical Colleges, West Africa and Nigeria and so we got them to accredit us. 

Are you saying that NISA Premier has now been accredited for post medical training in Nigeria?

Yes. Our hospital has been training specialists for a long time and high quality specialists for this country. It is a vision and it keeps on really conquering territories. Key territory is the sickle cell anaemia, where we say to ourselves, you are AS, your wife your proposed-wife is AS and you don’t want a situation where you have SS children (sicklers). Everybody knows that. Do you know we have conquered that in Nigeria? Where a couple in true love, whether they are AS or non-AS, as long as they can access the technology, they will never have SS children?

Really? Yes In Nigeria? Yes, sir. Right here at Nisa Premier. You don’t need to travel abroad.

Is that genotype?

Yes, haemoglobin genotype AS, AC for husband. If your wife is AS or AC as well, you could have sickle cell babies. One of your four children is predicted, one alone is bad enough. So you can see that the vision was “let’s go to space, then let’s go to the Moon, then oh, why not Mars, oh why not Jupiter, oh why not? And so that’s how Nisa has grown organically on the backbone of hard work, courage and belief in my colleagues and patients. Note that what we have done has been to be selfless in trying to conquer this area of medicine and I am very happy about it.

As you look to where Nisa started and where it is today, how do you feel?

My response is that we have exhibited the power of mind over matters. It means that one can conquer it all if they are totally dedicated to that truth and you are lucky that people come to join you, and the system does not shoot at you too much. I feel I have demonstrated the ability of the Nigerian person to work in a team and do things that are unthinkable and also share this knowledge selflessly, hoping that what I have done, other people will multiply it around the country and bring dignity to Nigeria.

What would you say is unique about Nisa?

Number one, what you call test tube babies, IVF. Honestly, it is a normal, routine in Nisa now. 

Here?

 Yes, sir, in this country, producing test tube babies is nothing unique, it is normal now. When I came, it was like climbing (Mount) Everest. But we broke it down. We conquered all Nigerian factors.

Can you tell us how many test tube babies have been delivered through the efforts of Nisa?

I will say 5000- about two years ago, for sure.

 Really?

 So it’s more than that now. But there is one unique case. We have gone beyond just having test tube babies in Nisa. Sometimes couples give birth to children that are deformed or abnormal and that could be very traumatizing for a family. So if you want an unaffected child, you and your wife can come to us. We can make sure that even if you are carrying that gene it doesn’t affect your baby. I know how difficult it was to domesticate that technology. I almost gave up. It took me eight years minimum of perseverance of sending people abroad for training, left, right and centre. I told myself that I must break the back of this technology. Every other hospital sends such things outside like we used to do. But I’m not that type of guy. I must try my best to put it on the Nigerian ground so that a black man can also say I have my own. You can do it; not that you must be a beggar in India or a beggar begging for a visa to go to anywhere in the world. So in my field we have conquered it as a special product also. 

What do you call that in medicine?

Well, that is called Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis. Some people call it testing. So we can tell you this, this seed of embryo if we plant it in your wife it will be a sickler, that one would not be good, that one will be a boy or girl, this one will be disease-free, this one will not be disease-free; we can determine that. What we do is seed selection. It is different from when a woman is already pregnant and it is found out that the baby has an abnormality or carries a disease and they decide to flush it out. That is not moral for many people. That is not what we do here. What is more morally acceptable is seed selection, which is what we do here. In Pre-Implantation Diagnosis, a seed that will become your baby you know what it is before it becomes the baby inside your womb while it is outside. This is available and that again is very routine for us. If you want a special type of child, come. If you can’t have a child and you want any child, come. I think that is the message to the public.

What is your specialty? 

My original specialty is Obstetrics and Gynaecology. I’m a specialist in Women and Reproduction both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria, especially England. So anything any gynecologist can do I can do also. But on top of it we have sub-specialized. There are millions of people that have fertility issues in the country. Thousands of people have this bias to say look, I don’t want a sickle child or I want that kind of this or that and so on. Obstetrics and Gynecology was actually what took me abroad and I was lucky to bring it home. You asked me, as I look back, no regrets.  My regret would have been if I ran away because, okay, we say there is no money in the country, people are going outside for greener pastures. But in my own case, I have enjoyed comfort in the course of doing good to other people.It is not that I’m rich, but I’m contented and the people who have derived satisfaction from our services are happy and we have by so doing added value to the society. For this reason, I have no regret whatsoever.

How can an ordinary Nigerian access your facility in terms of cost?

The issue here is; I agree all fingers are not equal. So when I wanted to go to the level of public, I gathered 10 poor people from our teaching hospitals and nearby hospitals not from Nisa.  I said, just send me people you know can never afford IVF. I’m going to treat them free of charge. That was in year 2000. They sent them. We treated them even from card to the end. Three of them got pregnant that is the normal statistics. You cannot give what you don’t have, so I had made a test and research which said this technology can work at low cost. My next push was to export that technology to a public hospital. Why? Because even in a private sector you have to cover your costs. Whether you are going to make profit or not. I now started a project for poor people. It’s called Baby Hannatu Foundation, our first test tube baby, Hannatu, and she is now 24 going to 25. The Baby Hannatu Foundation was used to take it to the National Hospital. Again, this is an absolutely selfless effort to answer the question.

So my first achievement was doing the IVR at the National Hospital, making it successful and that was achieved by 2006 and the first child in a public sector was born in 2007. Ask the question, Dr. Wada and Nisa they are the only ones doing IVF in FCT? Yeah. How come the same doctor will not go and set up competition against himself in a public sector? This is a story of who I am. I did not come back for business. I came back to touch lives. So the success of that National Hospital effort is extremely dear to my heart and I thank God it is still working till today. Then the opportunity of what you call Public Private Partnership came to me first thing on my mind, Garki Hospital. There are people who can afford your fees, Nisa provides that group in our facility. The same Nisa helped to set up same technology at National Hospital and Garki Hospital for those who cannot afford private fees. I have satisfied my conscience. I never came from a rich family or anything like that. So these are my people and I’m satisfied till today. If you can’t afford it through Nisa, you can go to National Hospital which is public or Garki Hospital, which is Public-Private. We have even set up something in Kaduna, all locals, about half what Nisa would need is what they are using. 

Does it work the same way?

It works absolutely and the same. I cannot compromise the technology. So, this is good news. That is to say nobody should say I am childless, because help is readily available. Help is readily available to suit your pocket because I knew from my childhood and beyond that we must provide for the rich and also provide for the poor. I will never belong to a system that says if you are not rich get out.  It is not possible. If not why did I say I gathered 10 poor people from Gwagwalada, from this hospital and that.  The selection was those that everyone could say, ‘this person will never be able to afford the IVF.’

But how are you replicating this knowledge so that it will not die with you?

God Almighty has honoured me in this life because of my heart, and I want the world to know that Nisa Premier Hospital is the first hospital in the West Africa sub-region to start training gynaecologists to become certified sub-specialists in infertility and this IVF technology. We are still the only one as at this moment. 

So are you training Nigerians and other Africans?

We are training Nigerians for now but other Africans are going to come later. We have to do ‘charity begins at home.’ So we are training Nigerians for the West African sub-region. Nisa was chosen by the West African College of Surgeons, which is the one that trains gynaecologists; one, to develop the curriculum; two, to provide the training; three, the certification. The hospital is the centre for the West African examination which took place in October 2022. It has never happened in any private sector. So this is unique. How am I replicating myself? With pride, as we speak yesterday we did the fourth batch of trainees.

Are you planning to establish a Nisa Premier Teaching Hospital?

Yes. Nisa started from one of the three-bedroom ‘Shagari Low Cost’ houses. That is where we started from and I am very proud to say that God has helped us to make tremendous progress over the years. It was sweat, effort and the help of God that got us to where we are. It is not some politician or some crooked one.  If it was, I would never have taken the technology to National Hospital or Garki Hospital. In me, you have a man who has come with a positive spirit to invest. When I started the first training around 2001 or so bringing people from Sokoto, Lagos everywhere – I told them, come and see the technology. I am ready to train you through short courses, and they responded positively. Today, that course is run as a formal one-year course. Gynaecologists come to stay with me from Maiduguri, Sokoto, Enugu, Nnewi, Lagos, Abeokuta, and it is on purpose.  We want to send someone from the geopolitical zones to take the message home because this infertility thing is too painful and our technology is breaking the jinx and they are loving it. If you hear them speak, they would say that they have never seen a Nigerian who has done what I am doing without government support. I am using my God-given sweat and investments to produce manpower for Nigerians.

Do you have an idea of how many specialists you have groomed?

Six people, who were inducted to stay with me for one year, left today.  During that one year, they got a piece of me to take back to where they came from. So 20 gynaecologists have been trained now for the full scale course. But if you want to talk of gynaecologist I have trained totally in the country, the number is 20 in formal training and 30 in informal training who have gone ahead to set up their own clinics and I am still sitting here smiling. 

 What vision are you seeing in the next 10 or 20 years about the picture of Nisa? 

We want to see Nisa becoming the property of all Nigerians. We want to see it belong to Nigerian doctors, not Dr. Wada. This is vision number one. This is too big for me now. The big picture is one that people can buy and own shares in Nisa Premier and look up to it as their own hospital. I want them to say where anybody else in the world can go, Nigeria can go there.  It is a collective effort, not one man. I have done the foundation work. Everything I have told you in my mind is- build the foundation that allows us to look at many nations eyeball- to-eyeball. If it is government alone, it will never be so. it will be dragged into one complaint or the other and failed expectations and white elephant projects but where it is now, it can hardly go back to that kind of mess.  It is now time for me to invite Nigerians and tell them, within a certain period of 20 years or more what we have done is too realize the Nigerian dream.