Why I relocated to Nigeria after practising medicine in the US for 33 years – Eugene Nwosu

Why I relocated to Nigeria after practising medicine in the US for 33 years – Eugene Nwosu

Sunday, September 18, 2022 5:27 pm


Dr Engene Nwosu and wife, Mrs Mary Nwosu

                 By Nehru Odeh
Dr Eugene Nwosu, Consultant Cardiologist and Chief Medical Director, United Heart Hospital, Victoria Island, Lagos defies description. He is not just a medical practitioner with a heart of gold who specializes in taking care of the heart, he is one who puts his specialized training and career in the service of the people, in spite of huge sacrifices.
Still, the fascinating thing about this humanitarian who is a giant in his profession is that after working as a medical practitioner in the United states for 33 years he  left the comfort of life in America as well as big remuneration and relocated to Nigeria five years ago in order to provide much-needed medical services to Nigerians.

L-R: Dr Eugene Nwosu, Mr Eniola Bello and Dr Ogunbiyi.

Yet despite starting everything afresh back home in Nigeria, the United Heart Hospital which he set up five years ago has not just state-of-the-art facilities that are of international standard,  he has also facilitated invaluable health services and brought smiles to many by providing services they would have otherwise spent huge amount of money to access abroad
And it was on that score that the United Heart Hospital, Victorial Island, Lagos celebrated its five year of existence recently. It was indeed an evening of thanksgiving and appreciation.It was also an evening of music, dance, and celebration of five years of achievement and excellence.
Still, guests who were taken on tour round the hospital marvelled at the state-of-the-art facilities there, facilities that are ranked on the same level with those in the best hospitals abroad. In sync with the mood of the moment, guests also had their blood pressure tested free of charge.
In his welcome address, Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, former Managing Director Daily Times, who chaired the occasion, was full of praise for Nwosu, for the huge sacrifices he had made relocating from the United States to Nigeria, in spite of the huge existential and developmental challenges in the country.

Dr Nwosu, Dr Ogunbiyi and Mr John Momoh

“What we are doing here is vital for our country. Here is the man who left his job in the United States, left all he was doing earning dollars and came back to set up a project like this.” Ogunbiyi said.
“The thing about this evening’s event is a celebration of excellence. Let us in our country again and again celebrate excellence when we see it. Because Dr Nwosu embodies that in several respects. Not just the way he handles you as a doctor but the communication, the relationship. When Dr Nwosu engages you in a conversation, you will get well before he sees you,” Ogunbiyi maintained.
Indeed, n his speech, Chief S.I.C, Okoli, Chairman Board of Directors, United Heart Hospital and Clinics testified about how Nwosu transformed his life. Okoli, who is in his eighties and Nwosu’s oldest patienr, said he currently  feels like a man in his fifties because of the cardiologist’s medical interventions in his life.

Dancing time

“If I tell you my story you will understand why everybody must must begin to register at United Heart Hospital and Clinics.
“I joined Dr Nwosu when I was fifty something years of age. Now I am eighty something years of age. And I am not so sure of how different I look. Thanks to Dr Nwosu. if you come you will be transformed like I have been transformed. If I take you on a race I am not sure you will win,” Okoli enthused and the guests roared with laughter. “And if you join you will benefit what I have benefited.”

Dr and Mrs Nwosu

Nwosu, for his part, could not but express his appreciation to God for bringing him thus far. He was also appreciative of all those who had supported him one way or the other in the past five years. He described the bold step he took relocating to Nigeria with his wife as audacity of faith.
“My wife and I left USA five years ago to Nigeria.  Leaving behind the success and comfort of USA was indeed audacity of faith. To a lot of colleagues and friends both in the US and here in Nigeria, it did not  make any sense.
“First of all, while I was in the US, I was doing medical mission. Coming back and seeing the need, tremendous deficit of specialists and healthcare, and when you look back, you have to give back.
“I was responding to the call and desire to give back to motherland. Before then, as I said earlier, we had done big medical missions through our Goodness and Mercy Foundation launched in 2001,” Nwosu averred, as he enjoined Nigerians in the diaspora to keep the country in view, as according to him, lol though there is happiness living abroad, there is true joy living in Nigeria.
“I will submit to all the physicians in the diaspoara, there is happiness living abroad, in a structured and organized society with better greater earning, but there is true joy living here in Nigeria and providing much-needed care while earning much less. The services provided here is very impactful,’ he said.
When TheNEWS asked Nwosu how he has been able to cope with the peculiar infrastructural and economic challenges in Nigeria, Nwosu said though  he has been a difficult journey transitioning from America back to Nigeria, he was well prepared for the challenges ahead before he embarked on the trip back home.
“It has been a difficult journey transitioning from America back to Nigeria. But I thank God because I was well prepared. It is a journey of faith. And like what I said in my speech, it is what I call audacity of faith.
“If you look at all the infrastructural decay, the disorganization, the traffic, no power, no water, you will never come back to Nigeria. But if you make up your mind that you want to be part of the solution, then you will come back. And then with that you can withstand all the discouragement and get focused on your goal. The goal is to aucceed, to be part of the solution to our health care problems.”
That Nwosu has succeeded in giving Nigerians a lease of life in  just five years is not an exaggeration. The state- of-the-art facilities in the hospital as well as the testimonies of those he had treated speak volumes.
Asked how the success story happened, Nwosu said: “First of all, the thing is that when you come, you come not to lower the standard. You know what is the right standard. You can’t bring it down because you are in Nigeria.
“And when people come and they realize what they are getting here, they go and tell their friends. So it is my patients that have been sustaining me, not the HMOs. You can see the difficulty of getting reimbursements from HMOs. So it is the patients, the goodwill of the patients,” he said.
Mr John Momoh and Mr Eniola Bello, Chairman, Channels Television, .and the Managing Director, Thisday Newspapers respectively gave speeches extolling Nwosu’s rare humanitarian qualities and promised to support  his noble venture.
Distinguished gueats in attendance included Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, former Managing Director, Daily Times, Mr John Momoh, Chairman, Channels Television, Mr Eniola Bello, Managing Director, Thisday Newspapers, and Chief S.I.C. Okoli, Cjairman, Board of Directors, Unity Heart Hospital and Clinics.

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