Succession Planning Vital to Survival of Private Hospitals

By Adebola Muili

A pioneer Vice President of the Guild of Medical Directors (GMD), Dr Festus Odunayo Oshoba, has urged private hospital owners to adopt succession plans and strengthen their institutions to ensure continuity of healthcare delivery beyond the lifetime or active involvement of their founders.

Oshoba, who is the Chief Medical Director of Ladkem Specialist Eye Hospital, made the call on Friday at the Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of the GMD, Lagos State Branch, held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

He said medical directors were not only doctors but also entrepreneurs and employers of labour who had to combine professional competence with sound management to keep their hospitals running.

Oshoba said the importance of private healthcare to Nigeria made it necessary for medical directors to continually share knowledge, improve their skills and examine ways of strengthening their institutions.

According to him, many Nigerians depend on private hospitals because of their accessibility, shorter waiting times and relatively faster response to patients.

He said the situation placed an additional responsibility on medical directors to ensure that their facilities could continue providing quality care regardless of changes affecting individual doctors.

Oshoba said the question medical directors should ask was whether their hospitals would survive if the founder became ill, disabled or died.

“Since most of the healthcare delivery is given by private doctors, when the doctor is sick, when he is disabled, or when he dies, will the practice die with him?” he asked.

He said succession planning had therefore become necessary, alongside preparation for possible mergers, acquisitions and changes in ownership that could determine the future of private healthcare institutions.

Oshoba said medical directors needed to understand that running a hospital involved much more than treating patients or performing medical procedures.

He noted that hospitals had to meet obligations including staff salaries, electricity bills, equipment maintenance and other operational expenses, warning that a medically excellent practitioner could still lose a hospital through poor business management.

According to him, the GMD conference was partly designed to equip medical directors with knowledge of the business side of medicine and help them build institutions capable of surviving beyond their founders.

He also called for improved access to affordable credit for private hospitals, saying funding was required to upgrade facilities, acquire modern equipment and improve healthcare delivery.

Oshoba urged government to address multiple taxation affecting private healthcare providers and create a more favourable operating environment for private hospitals.

He said access to financing from government-backed institutions and commercial banks could help healthcare providers expand their facilities and improve their capacity.

The GMD pioneer Vice President also linked the sustainability of private healthcare to the country’s ability to retain and produce enough medical professionals.

He said government should continue increasing the number of doctors trained in Nigeria so that the migration of some professionals abroad would not significantly affect the country’s healthcare capacity.

Oshoba noted that some Nigerian doctors who had moved abroad eventually returned to establish practices and contribute to healthcare development in the country.

He also stressed the importance of adequate emergency medical services, recalling the reported death of a medical colleague following a road accident to illustrate the consequences of inadequate emergency care.

He said doctors should provide the quality of service they would expect for themselves because medical practitioners could also become patients.

“We are not only caregivers; we are also care receivers,” Oshoba said.

He urged doctors to uphold professional ethics and ensure that the quality of care provided to patients reflected the standards they would demand when receiving treatment themselves.

Oshoba further stressed the importance of infection prevention and control, drawing attention to the threat posed by infectious diseases, including diphtheria.

He urged Nigerians to take appropriate preventive measures and seek vaccination and medical attention, noting that diphtheria could cause serious illness and death.

He said the GMD conference provided an opportunity for medical directors to examine the future of healthcare delivery, improve their professional knowledge and develop strategies for keeping private healthcare institutions sustainable.

Oshoba said strengthening private hospitals through better management, financing, succession planning, ethical practice and quality healthcare would contribute to a more resilient healthcare system in Nigeria.