Kenya needs to make medical tourism a major pillar of Vision 2030. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- At the very least we can become the top medical tourism hub for Africa.
- With improvement in equipment, infrastructure and health workers’ skills, we could hold our weight in the global arena.
- A major selling point for this product is, of course, quality and Nairobi boasts the only regional hospital to have the prestigious US Joint National Commission (JNC) accreditation.
Fellow columnist Scott Bellow’s recent
article on Kenya’s potential to become a medical tourism destination was
spot on. The mishaps in our public health sector notwithstanding, if
well-structured this is something that could work in the not too distant
future.
At the very least we can become the top medical tourism hub for Africa.
We
are easily the region’s choice destination for patients who can afford
higher standards of medical care in the eastern, central and parts of
west Africa. With improvement in equipment, infrastructure and health
workers’ skills, we could hold our weight in the global arena. A major
selling point for this product is, of course, quality and Nairobi boasts
the only regional hospital to have the prestigious US Joint National
Commission (JNC) accreditation.
Other hospitals in the same league hold equivalent or alternate standards of accreditation.
The
quest for quality recognition isn’t limited to our hospitals alone,
auxiliary services like laboratories are also seeking accreditation
standards.
Recently, the region’s top laboratories
received such awards. The intention being a guarantee that quality of
care will be delivered always.
On the pharma front, our
manufacturers’ capacity is growing too. Although duplication instead of
consolidation and specialisation is common, some have caught the eye of
international bodies and got accreditation by the WHO to manufacture
for the global market.
These three units: hospitals, laboratories and pharma are not the only components though.
Top
notch staff particularly for rare medical skill-sets will also position
us advantageously. This must begin with a definite plan to improve our
doctors’ skills to international standards by sub-specializing more.
Unfortunately this takes long; on average, 20 years for a neurosurgeon,
17 for a cardiothoracic or orthopaedic surgeon.
The shorter route is to encourage Kenyan medical experts abroad to return home by incentivising their relocation.
Most returnee medics tend to be specialists with experience in the international arena and have some cash.
A
focus on neurosurgery, cardiology, cancer care, orthopaedics,
infertility and the new spheres of genetics and stem cell therapy could
do well. In all this, the missing link is how to streamline the
initiatives to align each cogwheel to work in sync.
What
medics need is a national policy integrated into Vision 2030
recognising medical tourism as a potential economic growth pillar and
recognition that such enterprises can be included in the Special
Economic Zones just like the EPZs complete with tax breaks and other
financial incentives.
With Nairobi poised to be a
financial hub, special purpose funds can be channelled to financing of
heavy infrastructural and equipment upgrades to stand out.
Kenya
could position ‘Hospital Hill’, as the 10km radius around Kenyatta
National Hospital is known, as a Special Economic Zone for medical
tourism.
info@healthinfo.co.ke Twitter:@healthinfoK
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