US-based mostly neurosurgeon returns to Nigeria every single month to give healthcare – Tek Portal

Dr. Olawale Sulaiman, 41, is a professor of neurosurgery and spinal surgical procedure and chairman for the neurosurgery department and again and spine middle at the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute in New Orleans. He lives in Louisiana, but splits his time between the US and Nigeria, paying up to 12 days each thirty day period furnishing healthcare in the country of his beginning — in some cases for cost-free.Born in Lagos Island, Lagos, Sulaiman claims his motivation will come from increasing up in a fairly lousy location.“I am just one of 10 young children born into a polygamous spouse and children. My siblings and I shared one space where we generally observed ourselves sleeping on a mat on the ground,” he advised CNN. His moms and dads could not pay for his university tuition, but Sulaiman claimed at the age of 19, he obtained a scholarship to research drugs in Bulgaria via the Bureau for Exterior Help, a Nigerian federal government software focused at enhancing the high quality of everyday living for Nigeria’s most susceptible communities.
Sulaiman mentioned the scholarship opened numerous doorways and, in flip, he feels dependable to give back again as a result of healthcare. “Africans who have experienced the privilege of obtaining exceptional training and training overseas must mobilize their community of influence to rework our continent,” he claimed.
According to a report by the Global Wellbeing Workforce Alliance, Nigeria’s healthcare system does not have plenty of staff to efficiently deliver necessary well being services to the country’s substantial population.
Sulaiman states he would like to use his knowledge to improve the health care technique. “As I normally do, I consulted with my loving and devoted wife for assistance. We each determined that providing again was the only alternative for both equally of us, and for our loved ones. We have never ever seemed again,” he extra.
Starting a health and fitness enterprise

In 2010, Sulaiman established RNZ World wide, a healthcare progress business with his spouse, Patricia. The enterprise provides health-related services like neuro and spinal surgical treatment, and offers wellness programs like first assist CPR in Nigeria and the US.

Noting a shortfall in health practitioner-researchers (doctors with a put together diploma in drugs and a PhD) like himself, Sulaiman made a decision it was crucial to lengthen his abilities to Nigeria much too.
“I would use my getaway instances for the professional medical missions, which ended up also prepared with instruction and education classes. We donated a whole lot of drugs, tools and palms-on teaching on surgical strategies,” he said.
Sulaiman claimed he negotiated a 25% pay out reduce with his American employer in trade for for a longer period holiday seasons to Nigeria to pursue his passion. RNZ Global has treated a lot more than 500 sufferers and supplied preventative drugs to up to 5,000 folks in the US and Nigeria.

Dr. Yusuf Salman, a neurosurgeon primarily based in Abuja, Nigeria has recognised Sulaiman considering that 2006. In 2013, via a partnership with MPAC, a faith-similar firm, both doctors worked collectively to present cost-free spinal surgeries to underprivileged Nigerians in Kwara, north-central Nigeria.
“(Sulaiman) arrived to Nigeria with implants and equipment from the US so that we could function for absolutely free on men and women with spine-related challenges. He was the guide surgeon and I and a couple of many others assisted him at the time. We did about 10 surgical procedures,” Salman stated.
“Above the yrs, I have discovered a lot about minimally invasive spine operation just from operating carefully with him. It is a complex course of action and we never have a ton of authorities on it more than below,” he added.
Daily life-switching surgical treatment

1 of his previous clients Philomena Arah explained his surgical procedures as “life-altering.”
Arah achieved Sulaiman for the very first time in Lagos in 2018 by a pal. Prior to assembly him, she experienced spent more than 15 a long time seeking to obtain a long term alternative to her recurrent excruciating again pain.
“Walking was unbearable, I could not even stand straight. I was not pleased. The soreness stopped me from socializing, from participating in quite a few matters. I could not even workout the way I desired,” Arah instructed CNN.
She would later on come across out from Sulaiman and his workforce that she required a laminectomy, a surgical method where by aspect or all of a vertebral bone is eliminated to minimize strain on the spinal cord. In accordance to Arah, the surgical procedure in Nigeria price substantially fewer than if she experienced traveled to the US for the technique.

RNZ World also has a not-for-gain arm named RNZ foundation. The basis, registered in 2019, focuses on running people with neurological ailments for free of charge.
“We offer you absolutely free products and services and surgical treatment for those that are significantly less privileged and simply cannot pay for the expense,” said Blessing Holison, client treatment coordinator for RNZ Worldwide.
Sulaiman hopes to create at the very least four neuroscience facilities in Nigeria in the coming a long time.
“I believe that joy doesn’t occur from what you get, fairly, it will come from what you give,” he claimed. “There is generally place to give you do not have to have to be a millionaire to give.”