The management of Apex Specialists Hospital Nigeria and SEGOFS Energy Group, an upstream oil services company, have reiterated their commitment towards the provision of top-quality healthcare facilities and ending medical tourism in the country.
To achieve this aim, both firms said they are partnering to build a N3 billion ultra-modern diagnostic centre, to be powered by Artificial Intelligence in Anambra State.
Speaking during the foundation laying ceremony of the project in Awka, over the weekend, the founder of Apex Medical System, Prof. Uchenna Nwosu, said the aim is to provide respite for Nigerians struggling with health issues, which medical services are not readily available in the country.
Nwosu said he began the AI-assisted healthcare and intensive care unit project and diagnostic centre in partnership with SEGOFS Energy Group, to provide alternative healthcare to end indiscriminate medical tourism.
He said he was moved to build the facility to provide speedy healthcare for patients who suffer cardiovascular problems, including stroke and other cardiological ailments.
He averred that the diagnostic centre is in pursuance of the hospital’s goal of moving from providing primary and secondary healthcare to advanced tertiary healthcare services, adding that with the centre in place, the hospital would have both a healthcare facility and diagnostic centre in one location.
He said, “Now, we are going to have a hospital that will not only have an intensive care unit but with a diagnostic centre so that when a patient has issues, he or she can go from the intensive care unit to the diagnostic centre.
“Provision of healthcare is not about returns on investment. Returns on investment have never been our objective, but rather healthcare is our priority and agenda. If we consider investment returns, we would not have started Apex Hospital in a small village in Igboukwu, many years ago.
“There are diagnostic centres that have no hospitals and there are hospitals that don’t have diagnostic centres. We are now providing these facilities so that people will access healthcare, especially those who have cardiac-related issues including strokes within two hours.
“We have been in primary and secondary care, but we are now moving to commence advanced tertiary healthcare for Anambra residents and beyond.
“We started Apex Hospital as the first private hospital in Igboukwu back in 1981 and in 2025, there is no town in Anambra that does not have at least one private hospital, that is the impact we have made, money is not the primary consideration.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Managing Director of SEGOFS Energy Group, Chief Barth Nwibe, said investing in healthcare was in line with the ‘Think Home’ philosophy of successive governments of Anambra State since 1992.
Nwibe disclosed that the project was a wholly private sector initiative towards boosting the economy of Anambra and creating employment opportunities for the populace.
He said, “SEGOFS is partnering with Apex Hospital to invest about N3 billion to set up this diagnostic centre to enable it to render advanced levels of healthcare in the interest of Anambra people and Nigerians in general.
“This partnership with Apex to invest in healthcare in Anambra is in the spirit of the ‘Think Home’ philosophy, we intend to provide premium facilities and healthcare services.
“The project is being executed by GE Healthcare, the technical consultants and it would be equipped with a CT Machine with the auto-positioning kit, Artificial Intelligence-based technology enabled cardiac and neurology suits.
“The centre shall be built to accommodate equipment necessary to provide various medical services with ultramodern facilities in providing ieeded. The things that made people travel abroad for medicare will be here. CT scan and other testing machines and stroke and cardiac arrest cases will be attended to within hours.”
A representative of GE Healthcare, Precious Ike, added that the firm was bringing top-notch medical equipment as well as providing manpower capacity training for the centre.
The ceremony was witnessed by the member of the House of Representatives, representing Aguata federal constituency, Dominic Okafor, the Executive Director of SEGOFS and other board members of Apex Specialist Hospital Nigeria Limited.