Synlab and IDH deals offer hope to Nigeria, but real change will take time
You wait years for a big Nigerian lab deal and then two come along at once! Lab giants SYNLAB and IDH both made moves in the market this week. Does this represent a new dawn for the country’s developing health system?
Dr Ayodele Cole Benson, CEO of Nigerian diagnostic group Echo Scan, tells a story that perfectly illustrates the problems with the country’s health system. A representative of one of the largest medical equipment companies in the country, he says, recently had an MRI scan in a local imaging centre looking for a diagnosis. He got his scan and his report, but still feeling unwell, later jumped on a flight to London to get a doctor to cross-check the report. As he discovered, the original diagnosis was wrong. What’s the point of selling imaging equipment to a country if there aren’t the medical staff to make use of it, Benson asks?
This week Benson’s Echo Scan and its rival Pathcare Nigeria both sold majority stakes to giant multinational lab groups. In doing so, they expect to take on enough capital to roll out diagnostic networks across the country – IDH and its partners Man Capital and the IFC have already committed $25m – granting those Nigerians who can afford it reliable pathology and imaging, as opposed to unregulated sink tests. As its CEO told us this week, SYNLAB Nigeria could offer a menu of 6,000 tests – more than six times its existing menu of 900 – and centralising procurement should cut costs as well.
So, there’ll be no need for Nigerians to go abroad then? Not quite. Sadly, a menu of 6,000 tests requires physicians that are able to prescribe and interpret them. The same goes for new scanners with higher resolutions and all the other bells and whistles. At present, those skills are still severely lacking in Nigeria. This week’s deals have been sold using the rationale that diagnostics is the bedrock of the health system and there’s not much point doing anything else without them. The fact that Nigerians leave the country even at this initial stage shows how far the country still has to go. Nonetheless, as Benson says, there won’t be anyone to order the fancy new tests unless someone fixes the problem of the workforce – the health system’s real foundation.
Subscribers can read more about both of these deals in the Healthcare Nova news section.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Claude Risner or call 0207 183 3779.
