Hon. Abike Dabiri Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has applauded the kind donation of one million dollars (N1.6 billon) by a Diasporan, Dr Philip Ozuah to the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.
The said donation was used for the construction of six blocks of student hostel project at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan. (CoMUI).
Dabiri-Erewa, who was at the inauguration of the project in Ibadan on Wednesday, eulogised Ozuah’s philanthropic contribution and urged other Nigerians living abroad to emulate such gesture geared towards boosting health care and education in Nigeria.
She also commended the UCH Alumni class of 1985 that initiated the project.
The NIDCOM boss stressed the importance of diaspora involvement in transforming Nigeria’s health care delivery system through generousity and provision of infrastructural support.
She said that such collaboration especially with Nigerian Professionals abroad have gone a long way in transforming medical tourism and help reverse its current trends.
Elated by this gesture, Abike Dabiri-Erewa disclosed that in the last four years, more than 10 hospitals have been built by diaspora doctors , including the recently commissioned African Medical Centre of Excellence in Abuja besides series of medical missions in the country.
” Undoubtedly, we can reverse the medical tourism if we organise and harness the expertise of our health practitioners both at home and abroad”, she said.
While applauding the kind gesture from Dr Ozuah, Dabiri-Erewa said that with proper structure and collaboration, Nigerian medical practitioners abroad can come together to build a world-class medical centre of excellence that will attract patients instead of losing them to foreign hospitals.
Dr Philip Ozuah is a 1985 Alumnus of the College of Medicine and President/CEO of Montefiore Medicine in New York, USA.
