By Zika Bobby
DRIVEN by a deep-seated passion for improving the lives of Nigerians, Dr. Anthony Aduro, a healthcare practitioner is spearheading a transformative approach to healthcare in Nigeria.
In this interview, Dr Aduro spoke on Nigerian healthcare system, his philanthropic gesture and plans to facilitate medical outreach in underserved communities in Okitipupa, Ondo State. Excerpts.
Improving the Nigeria healthcare system.
I witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by patients in accessing quality care. The lack of adequate infrastructure, limited resources, and the prevailing apathy towards healthcare among government officials. These fuelled my determination to make a difference.
The state of healthcare system in Nigeria is saddening. About 80 percent of Nigerians use the general hospitals where you sometimes go and see patients sharing bed spaces, some of them not properly equipped.
I have a lot of interest in the healthcare system in Nigeria, and I’m putting in efforts to develop something where we can have an impact that if other people see, they can actually assist in building the health sector of the country.
Your significant milestones in Nigeria healthcare
During the #EndSARS protest, my home town was affected. The healthcare centre there was demolished, and I reached out to the local government chairman, and they took me there. I rebuilt and equipped it, and I told them that it should be for the community. I thank God, a lot of things are going on there, it’s like a mustard seed; something that is small, but will still grow and I still intend to build more healthcentres so that a lot of people, especially the low income earners will benefit from it.
I have plans to facilitate medical outreach in underserved communities in Okitipupa, Ondo State, where I hail from and also employ manpower to drive the growth of the healthcare sector.
Strategies to revamp Nigeria’s healthcare
These include partnership with the private healthcare sector; creating insurance systems for low-income earners; Investing in healthcare infrastructure and telemedicine solutions.
Telemedicine is one of my areas of research. Telemedicine is where you have the doctors and nurses, say for example, in the United States, but the patient can still treat you here in Nigeria ’’
Philanthropic activities
I believe so much in a clean environment. When the environment is clean and you have clean water, you are solving some problems that you don’t even know are there. I have drilled solar powered boreholes in seven villages including Okitipupa, Oloto, Ilumeje in Ondo State. My core objective is to set a pace that others can emulate, and create employment opportunities.
We have a N150 million ultra modern library , powered by solar energy. Giving back doesn’t have to be monetary. There is the need to create lasting impacts through job opportunities and infrastructure development.
The Aduro Foundation
The foundation was established to transform life through community empowerment, and creating opportunities. The core objective of the foundation is just to give back to, and have an impact on the community.
You have to be creative when you want to give back to the community. It doesn’t have to be monetary, rather let it be something that will create a lasting impact. For example, if you create job opportunities, where you employ people, they will take care of others, which gives rise to multiple effects. Giving back to the community entails making sure that something which will positively impact their lives is happening and it is continuous. It will not be one-off.
What inspired you to establish Aduro Farm?
On Aduro Farm, I got the idea while thinking of a way to reduce unemployment in Nigeria and boost sustainability. It is just like creating an opportunity economy for people to get employed, so that some people will have the opportunity to trade and do businesses with it. It is a highly mechanised farm, and there are staff working there. There are close to 60 people working there.
We’re building a large piggery farm right now. We have a poultry pen that will take about 20, 000 layers. We have a fish outdoor pond that will probably take up to half a million fishes, we have about 15 people working there. And then you see people doing business, for instance we have egg sellers coming to buy eggs to resell them.
My philanthropic endeavours are driven by a belief in the power of community-based solutions. I believe in creating lasting impact through initiatives that empower individuals and communities. By providing access to healthcare, clean water, and economic opportunities, Aduro foundation is helping to build a more resilient and equitable Nigeria.
I am optimistic about the future of healthcare in Nigeria. I believe that with the right investments and a commitment to community-driven solutions, it is possible to transform the country’s healthcare system and improve the lives of millions of Nigerians.
Sojourn to United States
Things were becoming so difficult, the competition was very high, I love to be in competition but it was very higher for me. The Kenyans and Indians dominated the economy and for you to be able to be successful you have to go through them. The Kenyans and Indians fixed the prices for everything, prices that you are going to use to export and that is only price you’re going to use to export unless you have other means of getting your own deal from London or France or so on.
When it was becoming so difficult I just have to move on and I said I would be focused on my dream. It was not because of education that I moved to the US, I moved because I was looking for a better opportunity. So when I got to the US, I have to start from scratch, that is what a lot of people don’t know. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are coming from or something like that, America will humble you, whether you have a Ph.D or whatever you have, you’ll start from the scratch.
The American dream
The American dream is always there, if you open your eyes. If you are determined, then you are very committed to what you are doing, straight forward, you’ll make it. You can be who you want to be and that is what is there. So, I got into the US and then started working in the healthcare sector. I was employed into a programme to co- ordinate programmes within the health sector. I was in finance, I had a Master’s Degree in Finance from India but when you can coordinate programme, it doesn’t mean you are practising. You coordinate programme like the finance part of it, although that is in the heath sector. Then I had to start changing my ways. That was when I developed interest in how the health system works, like how to take care of the aged and disabled people, people with disabilities, like autism, various types of disabilities. It is a different sector of health care system that actually focuses on human not on symptoms or treatment. It focuses on you and your health outcome. So healthcare is a big field where you have the physicians and others.
So I got into that and I started developing, I was actually growing in the heath sector. I became the residential manager for healthcare system, the Anthony Wince Services in Texas, Houston. After working in Houston about two years, I moved to Forthwin, Indiana through one pastor from Zambia. We got talking and he said: “if you are in this sector, you can get something better in Forthwin in Indiana.” And he spoke with a friend of mine from South Africa. He spoke to Anthony Wince Services. It is one of the biggest healthcare providers for old people and those with disabilities. That was in year 2001. That time I was made a programme coordinator for people with disabilities.
That was what led me into the healthcare education. I moved from there and then I also have a doctorate degree in healthcare from World University in Minnesota. I grew up and I saw what I was doing there, I have to set up my own. I grew up to the policy level when we started doing policy for Anthony Wince Services now called Benchmark and from there I branched out and started my own, Medị-link. That was the very first aspect of it, it is the first amputatery kind of services that deal with the people leaving with disabilities. I was able to talk to the State of Indiana that I have a better policy on healthcare sector and I was told to bring a proposal.
That was why I said that your dream is possible if you are focused but the idea is that you have to be humble, because whatever the case, you are going to start from zero. I put my proposal together and it was approved. I started my own healthcare operation system in 2013.