By Newscount
There is an age long saying that: “He who has health has hope and he who has hope has everything”.
Newscount in an exclusive interview got the passionate drive of the Executive Chairman of All Africa Medical and Wellness Expo (AMWE) Mr Usman Isah as it concerns good access to quality affordable healthcare service and the essence of the forthcoming All Africa Medical and Wellness Expo Meritorious Awards (AMWEMA) slated for 14th December, 2024 at the prestigious Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja-FCT.
Excerpts.
Newscount: Please, can you introduce yourself?
Isah: Mr. Usman Isah is my name. I am a medical tourism specialist based in Abuja-Nigeria, I am also an international speaker in the field of medical tourism, I am the convener of All Africa Medical and Wellness Expo (AMWE), as well as the Executive Chairman of AMWE; Medical and Wellness Foundation.
Newscount: Can you throw more light on what AMWE and AMWEMA is all about?
Isah: AMWE stands for All Africa Medical and Wellness Expo while AMWEMA stands for All Africa Medical and Wellness Expo Meritorious Awards, and the awards is basically initiated to be presented to deserved healthcare service providers, Medical equipment companies, Wellness, Fitness and SPA Centers, those in tourism sector and also to those who have contributed greatly in one way or another to the growth of Nigeria health and tourism sectors.
Newscount: What prompted this idea?
Isah: Well, what actually prompted this idea is that there is issue that is not clear in Nigeria health sector.
And what is that issue? It’s the issue of publicity- because many of our healthcare service providers always misunderstood the publicity aspect of healthcare products and services: because I have met many healthcare service providers whenever I am interacting with them, trying to involve them in medical tourism business- they always say that promotion or advertising is not allowed, that is against their ethics not to promote or to advertise and if you meet some healthcare service providers they will be saying that you can advertise, that you can even promote.
So it is a confused situation so to speak, so some local healthcare service providers don’t even know where they stand whether to advertise or not to promote.
So in this case there are many people that may have health challenge and they don’t know may be there are good hospitals or doctors close to them- they may not actually know.
And there are a lot of good things happening in our health sector but many of our local healthcare service providers since they are not known, they are not really getting the healthcare they are seeking for, we now say okay whether it is allowed or not allowed, because we specialize in healthcare business let’s give our healthcare service providers platform to be known by using these awards to identify our local healthcare service providers and those in tourism sector that are doing well that people don’t know about them.
Newscount: What are the major benefits of AMWEMA to prospective Awardees and what kind of encouragement do you have for others?
Isah: There are a lot of benefits for them but I am going to just mention two major benefits of AMWEMA!
One, when we identify these local healthcare service providers that are doing well, we are going to partner with them by way of referring healthcare seekers to them for medical treatments, then two: we are going to also connect our colleagues both home and abroad with them to also do business with them, the advice we have for others is that when we identify these awardees we also encourage them to do more and others too will emulate the good work they are doing, so these are the benefits and word of encouragement is for them to do more.
Newscount: What is the relationship between AMWEMA and AMWE?
Isah: Like I said earlier (AMWEMA) stands for All Africa Medical and Wellness Meritorious Awards and (AMWE) is an acronym; All Africa Medical and Wellness Expo is an annual event, AMWE is the one powering AMWEMA- both are strategies we want to use to achieve a project we are developing in Nigeria and it may interest you to know the project.
The project is titled NIHRRES: NIHRRES stands for: “Nigeria Health Sector Restructuring and Repositioning Strategies- this initiative is the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria and NIHRRES aim is to ensure universal easy access to world class medical treatment at low cost, you know many Nigerians are finding it difficult to have access to quality medical treatment and we are out to join government and the general public to proffer solution, and not just solution but lasting solution to what is depriving many Nigerians not being able to have access to quality healthcare with uncommon approach. And the beauty of this initiative is that it is in line with “Unveiling Nigeria Health Sector Renewal investment Initiative by His Excellency: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR which was launched on 12th December, 2024 in the Villa and it is also in line with his “Renewed Hope Agenda”.
Newscount: When is the forthcoming AMWEMA Awards precisely taking place and where is the venue?
Isa: The event is scheduled to hold on 14th December, 2024 at the prestigious Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja-FCT by 11am prompt.
Newscount: Who are the expected guests and participants to grace the occassion?
Isah: We are expecting the Honorable Minister of Health: Professor Ali Pate, stakeholders and policy makers in the healthcare and tourism industry as well as top ranking healthcare service providers in Nigeria and other African countries.
Newscount:
Is it a free entry event?
Isah:
No, it is not.
Newscount:
So what does it take to attend?
Isah: For one to participate at the event there will be a call for nomination form on our platform, then interested individuals or corporate bodies can apply, then for those that wants to exhibit, they have to pay to have the opportunity to showcase their products and services, then there will be a regular ticket which is N10,000 and VIP ticket for N30,000, Gold Table is N50,000, Platinum Table is N100,000 Premium Table is N200,000 if you visit our website you will be able to see details for different categories of sponsorship and exhibition while filling the forms as well as details for payment.
Newscount:
Finally, just recently AMWE was held, how will you rate the expo in your honest opinion?
Isah: Indeed, it was awesome because participants came from 18 countries and the stakeholders and key policy makers in both health and tourism industries and top government functionaries were present at the event, a lot of issues bordering on Nigeria’s health sector and the way forward were discussed, suggestions, ideas and solutions were proffered, those in government, media organisations and the rest of them took the communique issued at the end of the expo to their superiors, so by and large, the event was successful.