Daimed Facility, new diagnostic centre, set to open in Lagos

• aims to Reduce Medical Tourism in Nigeria with Evidence-Based Care

To reduce medical tourism in Nigeria, a  new multi-specialty facility, Diamed Diagnostic Center, is set to open its doors  in Lagos, with a comprehensive approach to healthcare.

Briefing the media in Lagos yesterday, the Chief Medical Director of the new facility, Dr. Abiola Olorode described the Center as a multi-specialty facility  that would offer  a wide range of diagnostic services, preventive care options, and consultations with experienced healthcare professionals thus reducing the rate of medical tourism from the country.

She identified lack of advanced medical tools and over-reliance on symptom-based treatments as key drivers of medical tourism in Nigeria.

“This unfortunately reduces doctors to just symptom-based treatments, which can lead to misdiagnosis and unnecessary medications,” Dr. Olorode explained.

On what inspired the establishment of Diamed Diagnostic Center, she said that she has spent her career witnessing the challenges of limited diagnostic tools and a reliance on symptom-based treatments in Nigeria.

“This approach can lead to misdiagnosis, unnecessary medications, and drug resistance and Diamed’s vision is to provide Nigerians with high-quality, evidence-based medical care in a comfortable and accessible environment.”

Explaining further, she said: “I have been on this journey for about 10 years with the feasibility study, the planning and the construction. So, the major reason this came to me is that I believe that, because I trained in the UK and the US, the type of healthcare you get abroad should be available to Nigerians.

“That’s one of the things that made me think of it because if you look at this, you can get all the state-of-the-art technology to do evidence-based management of patients. 

“What do I mean by evidence-based? When you see a patient, they come full of symptoms and based on the symptoms, you now do what we call examining the patient. And then we have what we call a science, you pick from the examination. Based on the symptoms and the science from the patient, you now look at trying to formulate a diagnosis.

“But what should normally happen is you now have a series of tests to confirm what you’re thinking is going on with the patient. “But, because we didn’t have a lot of diagnostic tools or equipment in Nigeria, people moved straight from the symptoms and science to giving medication.

“Diamed center will offer state-of-the-art equipment and this allows for a wider range of tests, leading to more accurate diagnoses and improved treatment outcomes.

“Also, it is focused on preventive care. Diamed encourages annual checkups and early detection of health issues and we are huge in patient-centered care. The center prioritizes patient comfort and emphasizes a personalized approach to care.”

Elaborating more on the key differentiators of Diamed Diagnostic Center from other facilities, she mentioned factors like accessibility, advanced equipment among others.

Olorode stated: “The center is conveniently located and easy to reach. It also has skilled healthcare professionals. We had a team of highly trained doctors, including in-house doctors and a network of consultants and specialists.”

On affordability, while acknowledging the challenges many Nigerians are currently going through, Dr. Olorode highlights Diamed’s commitment to offering preventive care options and working with the community to make services accessible.

During the tour of the facility, one of the staff of Daimed Hospital, Joseph Adeyanju, said that the facility boasts of high-end medical imaging machines, including 3D mammogram for breast cancer screening with minimal radiation exposure, ultrasound for various examinations, CT scan for detailed body scans.

Others include MRI for detailed scans of organs and bones, X-ray for routine checkups, Fluoroscopy (C-arm) for image-guided procedures.

According to him, all the machines are digital for quick results and paperless workflow.