Brian Deaver, Chief Executive Officer of the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE), Abuja
Nigeria’s growing need for specialised healthcare is creating opportunities for investment in advanced care, talent, research and technology, according to Brian Deaver, Chief Executive Officer of the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE), Abuja. In its first year of operations, the centre treated nearly 6,000 patients in eight months and conducted about 40,000 laboratory tests, with strong uptake across oncology, cardiovascular care and haematology. In this interview with John Osadolor, BusinessDay Managing Editor, and Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja Bureau Chief, Deaver discusses the centre’s first-year performance, efforts to attract Nigerian healthcare professionals back home, curb medical tourism, drive healthcare investment, expand research and technology, and build AMCE’s footprint across Nigeria and Africa.
Take us through your journey so far. What milestones or achievements stand out as the most significant?
It’s hard to enumerate the achievements. I think it is easier to reflect on a handful. We were fortunate recently to have CNN here to film some of our impact stories. They were specifically what we would probably call miracles in terms of diagnosis, treatment and outcomes. We were very pleased with that. We commissioned a little over a year ago – June of last year, so we are about 14 months post-commissioning. However, statutorily, we were not able to receive our full licence until the end of November. Therefore, we have really only been open with a full licence for about eight months. But during that time, we have had some really positive and inspirational outcomes and stories. For instance, one man who came in, not seeing restored his sight. A 25 year old soldier came in with a virus that he had contacted that had rendered him quadriplegic. He could not even breathe on his own, let alone move any body part. After several weeks with us, he was discharged, moving his feet and arms, speaking and doing pretty well. A number of our patients have shown up with maybe 24 or 48 hours to live, particularly some of those cardiac patients.
