Zenith Medicals and Kidney Centre says it is partnering with Roche Group on drugs and diagnostic equipment to reduce cost of renal treatment and medical tourism.
Dr Olalekan Olatishe, the Medical Director of the centre, made this known while signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Roche Group on the partnership in Abuja.
Olatishe said that the partnership would reduce the cost of kidney medication and treatment by about 30 per cent.
He explained that the facility has the largest number of kidney transplant and dialysis in the country.
“Patients who undergo kidney transplant in other facilities can also access the medication at the facility and its outlets.
“In the area of medication there will be a crash in the cost because there would not be a middleman between the Roche Group and Zenith Medical and Kidney Centre.
“Zenith would be able to fix cost of the drugs and medication for the patient and with that you will find out the cost will reduce drastically,’’ he said.
According to him, the partnership will also reduce medical tourism because it would avail Nigerians the right medication for kidney and renal complications at an affordable cost.
He noted that it was on record that several Nigerians went to India and other countries to buy same drugs Roche provided to Zenith.
The medical director added that the availability of such medication in the country would reduce the number at which people travel out to procure the kidney transplant drugs.
He said that in terms of diagnostics equipment, the facility would get PCR machine, chemistry auto analyser, amino acid machines from the group.
Olatishe added that these are basic equipment used in the lab and they were top notch all over the world, pointing out that the equipment would solve a lot of problems with diagnosis of renal diseases in Nigeria.
He noted that the partnership would provide an unlimited access to drugs and medications which could go a long way in solving a lot of problems of patients of kidney related complications.
Dr Severin Schwar, the Chief Executive Officer, Roche Group, said the private sector was part of the solution to address the problem of patients.
“We are very proud to help your business to be successful and if your business is successful you will have the possibility to reach more people.
“If the health care industry have more entrepreneurs like you, it will be good for the country and the country will grow and have more resources to deliver better health care services,” he said. (NAN)
