By Sola Ogundipe

Health is wealth, and by implication, the greatest asset of any individual. Issues of health and wellness are not to be taken with levity. An encounter, last week with Dr. Victor Okeh,President and CEO, Healthcare Advisory and Advocacy, HARA, was an eye opener.

Dr. Victor Okeh

HARA is acronym for Healthcare Advisory Research and Advocacy —a private health advisory and advocacy outfit. HARA Global has been in service at full capacity in United States for about five years, but recently set up shop in Nigeria and is currently rendering service to 25 patients.

A chat with Okeh, a doctor of internal medicine based in the US, revealed that HARA offers quite an interesting health package in the US. It is quite simple, Okeh reveals, pointing out that HARA is basically a firm set up to help people coordinate and, ultimately, get the best healthcare through advocacy, research and advisory.

“Really, our goal is to work with individuals to be able to get them the best treatment here in Nigeria or in any part of the world if there are instances under which they need to travel.” He said they help patients navigate through the complete process of accessing healthcare so that it is made easier even with 24/7 access.

“So if you are traveller and in the course of your visit, you have an emergency, we are there to help coordinate your care. We ensure that you are seeing the right doctor.

“Our services are a little bit diverse, for personal advice and advocacy, for us to be able to come to hospital, come to you, there are different grade of services for different people, there are some people for who we provide corporate service. For such persons, they can have all information and access to us. It is like having a personal assistant.”

The whole idea is to enlighten clients that sign up with the outfit, on their health. How did it all begin? Okeh said it started about five years ago.

“My younger brother is a patient of sickle cell disease. For four years he had an ulcer in the leg and was going to one teaching hospital after the other here in Nigeria. Nobody could treat the ulcer, and it was almost getting to the point that required him to be taken abroad for treatment.

“I spoke to few colleagues who recommended good healthcare facilities. We went to one hospital here in Lagos and it was there that they were able to make the diagnosis. They got him the right doctor and in four months, he was better. For instance, if you have headache in the middle of night and need assistance, you could call their number and they would ensure that you get to a suitable health facility.

“We don’t treat, but are like a third party. There are several gaps in healthcare, even in the US or Europe where healthcare is very complex and you need somebody that understands the system to work you through that complexity. “What we are here to do is bring all the resources together and fill the gap, help you go through that means, and make sure you get the best.

“It is fool proof and ensures that you can get access to care, and there is no chance that you would get to the hospital and there is no doctor. Even if you are travelling to India, China or any part of the world, you can get the same kind of service,” Okeh asserted.

They once had a client that went to India for medical treatment and returned without having idea of what was done. The woman only knew she had surgery done. HARA did the advocacy and the advisory, took over her care here in Nigeria, reviewed her and was able to help figure out what was happening to her.

Not too long afterwards, a 39-year- old man went to hospital and was diagnosed with a heart condition. Doctors told him he required a heart transplant. The man tried to contact a hospital in Germany but was not successful.

Nobody could respond to him. He was flying to Akwa Ibom State twice a week for dialysis even though it was obvious dialysis was not the solution to his problem. The man was referred, to HARA and after a review of his record, he was referred to a cardiologist in Nigeria, but he refused.

He didn’t trust the healthcare system in Nigeria. Okeh said the first engagement with the patient was to deal with his psychology of not trusting the healthcare in Nigeria.

“We got him to a doctor he finally agreed to see. For two years previously, had not been able to lay down flat to sleep because of the type of heart disease he had. But two weeks in the hospital with this physician, he was able to lie down and sleep. He was told that he had three months to live but he eventually lived nine months of quality life.

“Many people don’t trust the healthcare system in their countries because they are overburdened, more specialized and complex. In Nigeria, there are few hospitals with adequate staff and equipment that can actually provide quality service, and we have a proliferation of people that set up hospitals. Health is something you bring out money to do when you need it.”

He observed that as someone that grew up in Nigeria without having much, he was trying to develop a health system that would not turn anybody back.

“Of the 25 patients we have currently, five approached us to help plan their health; just the same way you would ask a financial firm to help plan your investment.

“They come to me and go over their medical history with them. We have seen people that said they did not need our help, but after going to about five different hospitals and they are frustrated, they come back and ask if we would help them. We do, but of course, it becomes more expensive.

If you want to fly a private jet, we would provide such assistance. That cannot be affordable by everybody, but if you send us an e-mail that you are going through this and you need solution, we are not going to neglect you even when you are not our client, base on the resource we had, we would point you in a right direction.

Our goal is to help improve healthcare here in Nigeria, but if you come to me and say you want to seek help abroad, why not? It is your health and we are going to help you out with it.

There is a great improvement in the Nigerian healthcare system. I must applaud the doctors that have been able to practice medicine here in Nigeria despite not well equipped, Nigeria doctors are respected worldwide and one of the best with bright minds. Everybody that makes up the healthcare system is good.

But we need to come back to where the patient is centre of healthcare, where patient is the primary reason why we have a hospital, we need to make that patient comfortable, when we come back to that era, we would understand what remain to do and eventually reduce cost.

We need to improve primary healthcare, which promotes detection of disease earlier for easy treatment. There are very few facilities in the country, and the good once are concentrated in one area, and  majority of Nigeria has no access to good quality healthcare, I think that need to be improve.

We don’t solicit clients for hospitals for payment because we work for our clients, so it depends on the kind of hospital that can give you the best service. If you have choice of hospital, we are there to find out if that hospital is adequate. If it isn’t, we would present those facts to you, and tell you the best place where you can receive the particular service you require.

So before you travel, get the idea of the cost of service. Get informed. The problem is that many people send patients abroad without investigating much about the kind of services they require. HARA fights for you when it comes to healthcare just the same way a lawyer fights for the client in court. We help create a plan of action, and develop your medical history card, that would enable easy access to your medical history.

Additional reports by Gabriel Olawale