Integration does not have to begin and end with geography, economics or administration. The group known as Flying Doctors Nigeria has advocated health integration for West Africa. The group says there will be many advantages to regional integration of medical services in the West African sub-region.
The founder of the group, Dr. Ola Brown, advocated this position in Banjul, The Gambian capital, during this year’s conference and scientific parley of the West African College of Surgeons, WACS, last Friday. Dr. Brown argued that integration would help the sub-region to develop medical centers of excellence that can receive large volumes of specialist medical cases. In his view, the centers will help medical personnel to “develop expertise in very specific areas of medicine.”
The annual meeting of the WACS is regarded as one of the most prestigious medical conferences in Africa. The conference, which was attended by surgeons from about 22 West African countries, was held under the theme, ‘Global Surgery Implementation for West Africa’.
Delivering the keynote speech on international collaboration in the sub- region, Dr. Brown called for air ambulance services to become vital part of medical sector cooperation in West Africa.
She explained that air ambulance services are capable of enhancing the sub-region’s medical collaboration by “facilitating transportation of patients across large distances in very short time frames.”
Unfortunately, West Africa is notorious for having the poorest health indices in the world in form of high maternal mortality rates, high child mortality rates and high mortality rates from trauma and infectious diseases such as malaria.
Flying Doctors Nigeria is West Africa’s first and leading air ambulance service organization. Established in 2008 in Lagos, the firm airlifts wealthy patients in Nigeria and across Africa in medically equipped aircraft for specialist medical attention.
