Ferdinand Ekechukwu
Medical tourism will soon be a thing of the past in the country following the laudable partnership between FIT Healthcare Ltd, Nigeria and Lokman Hekim Health Group, Turkey to build one of a kind medical city in Enugu. The partners estimate that the entire city will commence full stream operation in early 2027.
Described as the first medical city with state-of-the-art facilities, the ongoing project will comprise a multi-specialty hospital with full diagnostic, treatment and trauma center, nestled in a community of hundreds of residential buildings. Some are already built and occupied in the HELIU Health Tourism District.
The support facilities features a hotel, schools, shopping malls, cafes, and other top notch facilities on a 1.2 million square meter of land situated in Enugu state. “FIT Healthcare Ltd 250-bed multi-specialty hospital will be supported by a 150-bed Hilton Hotel and other facilities in the midst of 1,000 residences.
“All located on a 1.2 million square meter of land, along the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, about 8 km from Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Enugu State,” a statement by the Nigerian partners said. They expressed optimism that its sustainability becomes a model for comparison in Africa and West Africa upon completion.
The statement said the project unveiling by the Finance, Investment and Trade (FIT) Group of Companies, the parent company of FIT Healthcare Ltd and the Turkish Health Group was necessitated by the visit of the Turkish partners to Nigeria recently, which underscores the importance of building strong relationships required to make the project successful.
Speaking at a press briefing and partnership announcement of the two organisations, dedicated to delivering world-class healthcare services to the Nigerian community, Chairman of FIT Healthcare Ltd, Dr. Mike Ileka, said the unveiling is very instructive, coming at this time Nigeria is going through some economic constraints.
He stressed that Lokman Hekim Health Group will share their wealth of knowledge and expertise which will help play a vital role in creating an ecosystem that prioritises patient care, innovation, community well-being in FIT Healthcare’s shared vision of a state-of-the-art medical tourism facility.
According to Ileka, “FIT Group of Companies, the parent company of FIT Healthcare Ltd is building the first medical city in Nigeria, and we are privileged to have Lokman Hekim Health Group, one of the largest private hospital groups in Turkey as technical partner and operator.”
Instructively, Lokman Hekim Health Group has Joint Commission International Hospital Accreditation, a certification that its operations meet world class safety and quality standards. While FIT Group boasts of providing the structure and befitting location required to build a world class hospital project this kind.
Lokman Hekim Group is starting expansion into Africa from Nigeria, using three key areas of collaboration with the FIT Healthcare Ltd. One is the patient transfer which is the precursor to the operations of the hospital when it’s completed. “But until then will operate the first two areas of collaboration which are patient transfer and training of healthcare in exchange programmes at the Lokman Medical University in Turkey.
“As we await the proposed project completion in 2027, FIT Healthcare and Lokman Hekim are currently making treatment easily accessible and affordable by referring patients to receive first class care at Lokman Health Group in Turkey.
“The patient transfer services are very important as this will enable the partners to build an understanding of the values, culture and hospital seeking behavior of Nigerians, which will be helpful when our hospital opens for business in Nigeria.”
The FIT Group was established in 1992 but branched out into real estate and other areas in 2003 and is using its expertise to create purpose-built communities, with their contractors in Nigeria, SANA Group charged with the hospital building.
“The Group is going to be the contractors to build the hospital by the time we are ready to start hopefully within the next three months,” the statement added. Lokman Hekim, CEO Alpher Incoez expressed delight at the partnership and looked forward to a mutually beneficial collaboration with the FIT team.
“Our consistent commitment, despite the heavy responsibilities of our regular jobs, is to devote time and energy to serve the friendly people of Nigeria. I’m grateful for the hard work and dedication behind the partnership between the Lokman Hekim Health Group and FIT Health teams.
“I would like to express hope on the success of a seamless patient transfer and an esteemed pact of reference to build and operate the hospital system in Nigeria,” he said.
Acting CEO of FIT Healthcare Ltd, Chief Loretta Aniagolu spoke further on the HELIU Medical City project, highlighting the company’s shared goals and vision. “We have been excited to work with Lokman Hekim not just because they are big private healthcare company in Turkey but they also own the University of Medicine.
“And therefore, our collaboration with them is instructive because their business model makes sense to us. They have about nine hospitals that they run; they are outside Turkey also in difficult areas like Iraq and somewhere and Iran. So we know if they can operate successfully in those places, then Nigeria should be a path walk we hope.
“Our vision ultimately with this medical city which is the first of its kind in Nigeria, that we are building in /Enugu, is to be the gold standard reference for healthcare services in West Africa. We not only hope to serve Nigerians, but we are hoping that a lot of West Africans who had to go through tortuous processes to get visas to go to India and somewhere can actually come to Nigeria without needing visas to come to this hospital to get treated.
“And therefore, meant we had to get a first-class hospital that provides world class services and willing to do so in Nigeria. I think the story of the project is a conversation for another time but we have started. We have over 200 hundred homes because we had to build a community around the hospital.
“You don’t build a hospital in isolation. And since we had a large piece of 1.2square meters of bush, we had to create a community which is what we have done. People are living there now. And when you build the hospital, people will feel comfortable and you already have a captive audience by the time we finish the homes.
“As a real estate developer which is what FIT Consult Ltd (of the FIT Group) is, what we are doing is to bring a new and fresh perspective to use and utilisation of real estate services. A real estate company, everything you have that is a shelter; whether it is home for somebody, whether it’s a hotel building, whether it’s a hospital, whether it’s a school, is a piece of real estate.
“What that means is that real estate companies in Nigeria can actually help to accelerate the development and provision of infrastructure by providing and laying bare what they have in terms of collaborates to extend it to certain services. So what we as a real estate company value we are adding to our business is to collaborate with experts.
“Because a lot of real estate Companies in Nigeria can have access to funds, can leverage their assets to raise funds to do what we are doing. Our approach and working with Lokman Hekim is that they believe it’s not just about sending patience. We have three areas of collaboration.
“First, we have already signed an agreement for the operation because you can’t build a hospital without having a first class operator. So while we are waiting for the hospitals to be ready they are doing the patient transfers now and we are working also with them and the Turkey Embassy to see that visas are given and people who want to go there whether you are going for advance treatments or checkup everything is done quickly so that there’s no delay.”
