The former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu delivered a speech at the the
Occasion of the 13th National Convention of ORLU Regional Assembly,
INC. USA, between June 27-30, 2013, IN MIAMI, FLORIDA, USA. He spoke on
Improving Technology, Healthcare, and Youth Development. Details below:
Preamble
The
theme of this lecture, to my mind, lends itself to three distinct
interpretations. I am content, however, to settle for the purposive
interpretation that leads me into exploring how youth development can be
created and enhanced through improvements in healthcare and technology.
Specifically, I shall endeavour to examine the correlation between
technology and healthcare and then tease out any potential steps to
youth development.
The
alternative interpretation which presupposes that both technology and
healthcare are actually on an improving trajectory and therefore
spurring youth development might be correct in other climes but does not
hold true in Nigeria today. Of course a third-way interpretation is
possible: it is the proposition that we must take proactive steps to
bring about improvements in technology, in healthcare and in youth
development. But this last version is so self-evident that I had little
difficulty in coming to the conclusion that it could not have been the
intention of this enlightened body to frame the subject-matter in such a
simplistic fashion. The sad reality that neither technology nor
healthcare is progressing on an upward curve in our country is precisely
why I am in a constant state of anxiety not just over the current state
of affairs in Nigeria but over the prospects for the future – a future
that is exclusively an embodiment of the youth.
Technology as a Revolution in Healthcare
Every
single day under the sun bears witness to new technological inventions,
improvements, enhancements or revisions. Whether these are major or
minor, revolutionary or evolutionary, incremental or huge leaps, are not
really of major importance for our purposes today. What matters is for
us to appreciate the fact that as technology improves every single day,
new developments are constantly infiltrating our lives, sometimes in
ways that genuinely boggles the mind; other societies are advancing at a
comparatively geometric leap whilst our own society is essentially
crawling to an indeterminate destination!
It
is not an exaggeration to claim that in every facet of our lives, be it
the way we shop, how we communicate with each other and the rest of the
world, the jobs we do, the way we access information or the way we
travel, technology is transforming our expectations and our worldview in
all ramifications – and this holds true, to a greater or lesser extent,
across countries and continents. These advances and improvements in
technology have, as I pointed out earlier, brought about enormous
changes in our expectations and behaviour. In the area of healthcare,
for example, dramatic breakthroughs in information gathering, research,
treatments, and communications have given medical providers new tools to
work with and fresh ways to practice medicine.
For purposes of simple illustration, let us look at a shortlist of the biggest impacts technology has had on healthcare.
1. The Internet has become a main source of medical information
For
instance, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in a
2009 survey 66% of Americans said they searched healthcare information
online.
It
goes without saying that more and more people are using the Internet to
research their medical issues. This means not only looking up symptoms,
but exploring treatments and medicines on the web. While it is never a
good idea to skip out on the doctor completely, the Internet has made
patients more empowered to make decisions about what to do next.
2. Healthcare facilities in America are reaching patients using social media
It
is easy to see how public clinics, doctor offices, and even research
facilities can take advantage of social media tools to reach wider
populations. And there is evidence that they are going above and beyond.
Healthcare
facilities, particularly hospitals, are using social media to establish
contact with patients, answer questions about practices, launch public
awareness campaigns, and perform community outreach. Some sophisticated
sites even offer instant chats with nurses and doctors about medical
issues and reminders for people to get regularly needed tests and
vaccines. These projects have taken off on college campuses but are
rapidly spreading to more mainstream institutions in Europe and the US.
3. Better treatment and less suffering
We
must not overlook the most obvious way technology has changed
healthcare: by providing new machines, medicines, and treatments that
save lives and improve the chances of recovery for billions of people on
a global scale. Not only do sophisticated medical practices help
patients heal directly; new technology has also improved research so
experts can make healthcare even more effective.
4. Improved patient care and worker efficiency
Information
technology has made patient care safer and more reliable than before.
Nurses and doctors use hand-held computers to record a patent's medical
history and check that they are administering the correct treatment.
Results of lab tests, records of vital signs, and medicine orders are
all electronically put into a main database to which future reference
can be made. And as more institutions are adopting electronic health
records, patients have easier access to their own information so they
too can understand what is being done to them. These electronic
databases are also consolidating large amounts of information that are
used for medical research. With vast patient history, scientists can
better study trends and causes of ailments. This means more
breakthroughs to come.
5. Doctors are easier to reach and better at their jobs
With
the touch of a Smartphone, doctors can access thousands of pages of
medical textbooks. They can also use online medical databases to easily
look up case studies and check out detailed patient history.
Technology has also enabled doctors to use e-mail, texts, videos, and
conference facilities to consult colleagues from all over the world.
This practice, known as telemedicine, is especially useful for doctors
and patients in rural and under-developed areas. Without moving
patients, doctors can consult experts from all over the world to
diagnose, treat, and research conditions without needing access to a
sophisticated hospital. Telemedicine was used effectively after the 2010
Haiti earthquake and will no doubt be refined for future use –
hopefully with the growth region becoming Africa generally and Nigeria
in particular.
6. Online databases can accurately predict medical trends
By
analyzing health information that users search for online, search
engines such as Google have been able to accurately predict medical
trends such as flu outbreaks.
"Of
course, not every person who searches for "flu" is actually sick, but a
pattern emerges when all the flu-related search queries are added
together. We compared our query counts with traditional flu surveillance
systems and found that many search queries tend to be popular exactly
when flu season is happening. By counting how often we see these search
queries, we can estimate how much flu is circulating in different
countries and regions around the world."
This
breakthrough will help medical experts respond to outbreaks quickly as
well as take preventative measures. And as more and more people use the
web to search for their own medical problems, these internet giants will
have even more information to apply to scientific studies.
Different Strokes for Different Youth
I
have enumerated just half-a-dozen points that send a thousand messages.
The most powerful among those messages is the gap that exists and will
for a very long time continue to exist between life as experienced by
people separated by vast continents and oceans, youth and elderly alike.
Very little of the above breakthrough took place in Nigeria nor have
any significant impact in healthcare delivery in our own country.
The
most essential of all medical necessities, diagnostic facilities and
equipment are more scarce in Nigeria than gold-dust. And where they
exist at all, the cost to the ordinary citizen, be he a youth or elderly
citizen, who attempts to access them is so prohibitive as to make a
mockery of the claims of those who insist that such facilities are now
to be found in hospitals and clinics in Nigeria.
The
simple truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that basic medical care for the
youth in Nigeria is non-existent. Technology-driven healthcare delivery
is still decades away from measuring up to what exists in medium-income
countries or even communist nations like Cuba.
The
prospects for the Nigerian youth who is unlucky enough to be struck by a
serious ailment such as leukaemia or cerebral malaria is usually
excruciating pain that ultimately results in death. Injuries arising
from road accidents that would normally be containable without a great
deal of fuss are routinely fatal in the Nigerian context. So on this
very basic but fundamental level of regular healthcare access and
delivery, the Nigerian youth is still faced with shockingly backward
healthcare system, strangulated by maladministration, paucity of funding
and lack technological innovation.
Now,
in terms of the capacity of the youth to influence technological
innovation in the area of healthcare delivery, the youth potential is
stunted and stifled by an educational system that is quite frankly
racing back to the Stone Age. The situation is such that it calls to
mind the biblical idiom: “If the foundation is weak, what can the honest
do?” With a grossly inadequate educational opportunity, the Nigerian
youth is bereft of sound conventional education and crippled by
technological illiteracy.
In
most industrialised societies in the West and Asia, the youth have been
major drivers and beneficiaries of technological innovation generally –
not just in one sector. There are scores of dollar-dominated
millionaires within the spectrum of under 20, under 30 and under 40
years of age who came to their stupendous fortune mainly and primarily
through technological inventions. And this is a historical global
phenomenon. Prior to the age of technological revolution, it was quite
impossible for such numbers of youthful millionaires to emerge through
the dominant wealth-building mechanisms of the time – mercantilism and
real estate which yielded mega-wealth through many years and decades of
sweat and toil. To the extent that wealthy youth existed, they came by
their wealth almost exclusively through inheritance. But technology has
changed all that.
Conclusion
Societies
that have attained great technological heights got there not by
accident but by deliberate planning, investment of massive cash and the
commitment of citizens who share a common aspiration for the greatness
of their countries and improved life for their fellow compatriots. This
is a lesson we must learn. The pacesetters are already ahead of us. All
we need to do is follow their sparkling examples. The Nigerian youth
deserve nothing less and our nation shall be grateful for taking bold
action decades and centuries to come. Every great ambition is contingent
upon action.
One
of the most sobering statistics back home in Nigeria is in respect of
youth unemployment. According to the Bureau of National Statistics, it
stands at about 70%. No nation can afford to ignore the ticking time
bomb that this scandalous statistic represents. And our quickest route
out of it is technology – the way we use it, invent it, modify it or
adapt it. That is the simple reality of a world that has shrunk into a
hamlet.
Thank you for your patience and attention.
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