*Avon Medical has put its name in the sand of time in this industry – Sanwo-Olu
WorldStage Newsonline– History was made on Monday in Surulere, Lagos as AVON Medicals, an Heirs Holdings company, launched an ultra modern 50-bed medical facility.
The facility inaugurated by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, was described by the Chairperson of AVON Medical, Dr. Awele Elumelu as a major milestone in Avon Medical Practice, and within the larger group, Heirs Holdings, “as we continue on this journey to transform healthcare delivery in Nigeria and across Africa.”
Also present at the event were Group Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi; Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate represented by the Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Prof. Wasiu Lanre Adeyemo.
The AVON Medical Chairperson said they from the beginning resolved to focus on the problems which include overburdened public hospitals, lack of modern equipment, medical professionals being stretched to their limits, too many people frustrated as they simply couldn’t get medical help in time.
“We could not look away, so we decided to do something about it,” she said.
“That single decision to step in gave birth to Avon Medical and our health insurance company, Avon HMO.
“The first, to provide excellent healthcare services, and the other to ensure that people could actually afford them.
“That combination was deliberate. It was our way of ensuring we were not only building facilities, but we were also creating access to them.”
She said the initiative them from the humble beginnings of operating just a work-site clinic at a single location had grown into a 50-bed hospital network, including a Dialysis Centre, and several worksite clinics.
She said why the decision they took then matter could be seen from the staggering facts about our healthcare system on the Africa continent which has over 20% of the global disease burden yet has access to only 1% of healthcare resources; approximately 48% of Africans lack access to the quality healthcare they need; Only about 3% of global health workers serve our continent; In Nigeria alone, the gap in the number of available and qualified doctors, beds, and equipment reflects a system under pressure; The African healthcare system is the hardest hit by the migration crisis.
She said the challenges were not just mere numbers, but real people, real stories, real lives.
“And far too often, they represent women and children. Which is why this facility matters,” she said.
With the medical facility, she said more women will now receive the maternal care they need to safely bring life into the world.
“It means more children will get timely diagnoses, life-saving treatments, and a better shot at long, healthier lives,” she said.
“ It means more families will have access to quality and affordable healthcare services that they deserve.
“This is what we are building: a healthcare system that leaves no one behind.”
Describing the project as a reflection of “our philosophy—Africapitalism, she said, “The belief that the private sector has a major role to play in our continent’s development.
“The belief that we have a responsibility, not just to generate profit but most importantly, to create a lasting impact, to do well and do good.”
She also made it clear that to solve problems, to improve lives that will transform Africa would not end with the new project.
“ This achievement is not the end. It is only a springboard. Our vision has always been bold: to create a network of health solutions that are not only accessible and affordable, but also world-class,” she said.
“We will continue to empower individuals to live healthier and fuller lives and restore hope in Africa’s healthcare system.
“To achieve a developed Africa, we must have healthier Africans. It is possible. It is achievable, and we will get there.”
She acknowledged the contributions of the passionate teams across Avon Medical, and the wider Heirs Holdings Group for them to achieve the feat.
“A Group that is committed to building solutions that improve lives because we believe Africa’s solutions lie with Africans. We can achieve major feats because we have people who are committed to our vision,” she said.
While thanking the team, she said the day belonged to them.
She also appreciated the public sector for unwavering support, saying, “We want to especially appreciate the Lagos State Government and the Ministry of Health for creating an enabling environment that encourages private and public sector collaboration.
“This is how we make real progress—together. Collaboratively. To anyone who uses our facility, we promise you excellent patient care. We are here because of you. Your health matters to us,” she said.
She also specially acknowledged frontline medical workers both clinical and non-clinical for daily efforts, caring for everyone who walked into their facilities.
While thanking all stakeholders for being part of the story, she said, “You are helping us write a new chapter in Africa’s healthcare narrative. We believe that Africa’s future is bright. We believe so much in the potential of the continent.”
Gov Sanwo-Olu in his remark congratulated the entire team of Avon Medical, saying, “When we listened to the story of how it started in 2009, they did not just give up after one little clinic or one small hospital. They wanted to make an impact. They wanted to indeed make a full print of what vision they saw, what issues they will have in a critical sector like health.”
He said Avon Medical had put their name in the sand of time in this industry, not only in Lagos, but in Nigeria.
“And so, for us, it’s to use them as a platform to encourage others. What we’re doing, it’s not that they are passing the buck to government. It’s that we’re partnering and we’re collaborating,” he said.
He said health practitioners, health institutions, health facilities everywhere in the world are not done by one arm of a society alone as governments can certainly not provide everything for everyone.
“But the government must create that enabling environment for private equity, for private partners, for private investors to take that decision and put their investment into the health profession,”.
“It’s not the easiest sector to put money into. It’s not the easiest sector that you think you’ll make a turnaround in 12 months or in 24 months. You must have what we call patient investment.”
He recollected that Avon Medical started as a small clinic and went into the health insurance scheme and now you have grown to a full diagnostic, O&G, paediatric health facility.
“For you in one location to build a 50-bed, full diagnostics, obstetrics and gynae, full paediatrics, neonatal and the rest of it, means that there are several levels of specialties that have been brought together. And I can see that specialty also being reflected here by one of our comperes, who is a medical practitioner who stands here to also be able to deliver,” he said.
“And so, I feel truly proud of what Avon Medical has done, what you’ve been doing in the past 16 years.”
“And so, for us, it’s really to thank you, to encourage you, to say that we’re watching, and we want to assure you that we’ll continue to create an enabling environment for you to work and to encourage others that want to also participate.
He said Lagos government in the last six years, not only able to solve seemingly difficult problems during COVID, which everybody talked about, “but it has given us that challenge to say that never again will we allow for other people, for other nations, for other continents to come and tell us—in the event of a global pandemic—how to be.
“Because it showed us at that time that they needed to take care of themselves first before taking care of us. So, we need to understand and appreciate that we must do everything to have the institutions, to have the solutions, to have the facilities to take care of ourselves. And so, for us in Lagos State, in the last six years, whilst, being very modest about it, we’ve been able to hand over, I think, five facilities that are clearly mother and child hospitals.”
He said his government had also completed and handed over a maternal and paediatric hospital in Badagry. We’ve handed one in Eti Osa, by Ajah. We’ve handed over one in Epe and we’ve handed over also another one in Alimosho. There’s ongoing extensive construction and development that we’re doing. We’re building one of the largest—and I’m sure Luth will want to compete with us—one of the largest facilities in Ojo, which will rival any tertiary institution in Ojo.
“We’re building the largest paediatric hospital in all of sub-Saharan Africa. If you want to climb—and I want people to see the development happening in that facility—if you want to climb Third Mainland Bridge, by the left, you’ve got like ten floors. That is a hospital. It’s going to be the new Mercy Children’s Hospital,” he said.
“We’re building—which will also be the largest mental health facility in all of sub-Saharan Africa—in Ketuerio, because a lot of people never want to talk about mental health issues. We know it’s real with us, and we’re building a facility that will take over a thousand patients at once in Ketue-Rio.”
He said the government will need the likes of Avon Medical, the private sector to see us as collaborators.
“We need them to know that we’re the same coin. We’re just two different sides of the coin. And for us, it’s for us to continue to express to them that we’re happy with your interventions. We’ll continue to make this place work for you,”.
“And I’m challenging myself to say to my own commissioner that all of the projects that we also have ongoing: the Shomolu General Hospitals, the Ojo Medical Center that we’re doing, the one in Harvey Road, the very big one that we’re doing in Kitetunyu, let us please push all of these contractors for them to be completed. They will probably just be adding to the stock of our medical intervention.
“And I want to also encourage our federal government as well. They are trying. LUTH is there.
“But I know that we’re also working to ensure that we have another federal medical center in Lagos. Indeed, we’re the first. We’re working with the federal government to give them a facility so that they have another FMC.”
He congratulated Dr. Elumelu and asked her to say that what she had done here was just a start.
“And I want to encourage all of her staff, that please, bear with us. It’s tough sometimes, but don’t give up on us. It’s not an opportunity that JAPA is a solution,” he said.
“No, here is the solution. Let us build our own health institutions. Let’s reverse the over $2 billion that we say we take out on a year-on-year basis.
“It’s no longer just a lip service thing. It’s an investment that we all need to have. And to all of you, investment bankers that are in the audience today, please, it’s not everything that should go into those other forms of investment.
“Let real estate medical investment be your own, charge-out, your own growth, so that when you also grow old, you can look back and say that I created a facility. I want to be treated in that facility, and God will help all of us. So, thank you very much for inviting us.
“We’re indeed happy about this engagement. And I say to my other citizens, let there be another commissioning of another bigger medical facility tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Thank you very much, and enjoy the rest of your day.”
