A state-of-the-art medical facility equipped with world-class diagnostics and treatment facilities has been opened in Abuja, Nigeria to serve West Africa.
Deemed Africa's first medical centre of excellence, the over £300 million investment, would also conduct research to enrich medical practice in West Africa.
Hosted in a seven-floor building in the heart of Abuja, the tertiary health facility is expected to deliver world-class services in oncology, haematology, cardiovascular care and general surgery, while serving as a hub for medical research and training.
It was developed by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in partnership with King’s College Hospital London.
It is equipped with modern diagnostic and treatment machines and has the largest ICU and bio-lab in West Africa, cyclotron-powered PET-CT Suit, which is the first suite of that energy level in sub-Saharan Africa that is capable of producing its own radiotracers thereby cutting critical wait times from weeks to hours and the first and only three Tesla MRI in Nigeria and the only one functioning in West Africa.
It also has contrast-enhanced spectral mammography that detects breast lesions invisible to conventional scans; Gamma Camera/Spect-Scan that allows the performance of whole body bone scans, myocardial perfusion imaging, infection and inflammation imaging and adrenal and thyroid monitoring blood flow to the heart as well as a biosafety advanced level two microbiology suite that rapidly identifies multi-drug-resistant organisms and imaging pathogens.
Ahead of the opening, the bank and the centre's executive organised a media briefing and tour of the facility where the media were shown the state of the arts medical equipment that had been fixed and how they worked, as well as the various units at the centre including the internal medicine, radiotherapy, emergency and the OPD.
Vision
Speaking at the media briefing, the Managing Director, Export Development of Afreximbank, Oluranti Doherty, said the vision to establish AMCE was borne out of the personal experience of the President and chairman of the board of directors of Afreximbank to address the persistent challenges in accessing high-quality healthcare in Nigeria and across the continent.
She said by doing that they aimed to curb outbound of medical tourism, strengthen the healthcare system, enhance skills of local healthcare professionals and foster innovation in medical research tailored to the continent's unique needs.
Beyond healthcare delivery, she said, AMCE was about job creation, research and innovation and training the next generation of African healthcare professionals adding that, the hospital had successfully recruited from the diaspora over five highly qualified Nigerians who were presently contributing meaningfully to the country's healthcare system.
Throwing light on the bank's decision to venture into healthcare, Ms Doherty said, Afreximbank was a development finance institution whose mission was to drive Africa's economic growth through innovation, investment and the promotion of inter-Africa trade.
She said as non-communicable diseases had surged across the continent, it became increasingly evident that healthcare access was not only a social obligation but also an economic necessity adding that, the bank saw a clear opportunity to champion the creation of resilient, accessible and high-quality healthcare facilities that would meet Africa's needs from within.
Comprehensive care
The Chief Executive Officer of AMCE, Brian Deaver, said AMCE would deliver comprehensive, advanced, patient-centred healthcare, which implied that no West African should ever need a passport to find hope.
He mentioned the facility's highlights to include cardiac catheterisation and electrophysiology lab, comprehensive bone-marrow transplant and critical care command centre.
He said aside the machines, they have over 300 clinicians, nurses, technologists and engineers spanning 14 nations.
The facility
The centre is starting with 170 beds that is planned to be expanded to 500 beds within five years.
Construction of the facility commenced in the first quarter of 2022.
U[on completion, the facility is expected to serve over 350,000 patients within its first five years.
