March 04, (THE WILL)- Dr. Taiwo Olatunji is an experienced British trained General Physician with experience in Acute Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and General Surgery including ENT. He brings a wealth of experience from previous roles in Business and NHS practice. In this interview, Dr. Olatunji, who is also the founder of MHF Medical Concierge, the first Afro-centric bespoke private healthcare service providing unrivaled client experience and solution-driven medical practice, speaks on what stands MHF Medical Concierge out.
MHF Medical provides bespoke assistance for high net-worth African individuals to receive medical attention anywhere in the world. How does this work as you are based in the UK?
We have a call Centre that clients can reach 24-7. We are able to facilitate care in the UK or anywhere in the world using our extensive network of reputable medical professionals from the US to Germany to Israel.
There is a tendency for human beings to gravitate towards the familiar. Does being a Nigerian doctor in the United Kingdom offer Nigerian patients the comfort that often accompanies the familiar? If yes, please give us an instance where you found this to be so.
Absolutely. The knowledge that the doctor they are consulting understands the nuances of their language, their cultural norms and even their nonverbal cues during consultation all make Nigerian and dare I say black patients feel at home, open up and allow an honest non-judgmental conversation to take place. This happened only recently when a patient came to see me regarding a second opinion about his prostate cancer diagnosis. He was dissatisfied with the explanation given to him regarding the side effect of prostate surgery, in particular potential loss of erection and urinary incontinence. He felt more comfortable discussing his fears with me more openly, allowing me to allay his concerns and helping him understand why the risks he was warned about must be discussed even if they are unlikely to happen with more advanced treatment modalities.
Do you enjoy good patronage from other Africans too?
Yes, word spreads fast and we are beginning to see other African nationals patronise us. We are forging links to other African countries by drawing the attention of our services to their embassies and insurance providers with international plans available in these countries.
You once worked on Harley Street in London, renowned for being the most prestigious centre of high-quality private clinics in the UK. What was that experience like? And would you say it has rubbed off on you in any way?
It was an eye opening experience. I realised how much of a monopoly on private practice Harley street has and how people flocked to this area of London renowned for decades for medical excellence because it was easy to access care, irrespective of the medical specialty you seek. I developed my concierge practice from there treating Kings, Queens and ultra-high-net-worth individuals who demand a very high level of care. You can say this level of service provision rubbed off on me well.
Yes, the British NHS is often used as a reference point of excellence and some may say it symbolises the best of British. But increasingly, Nigerians seeking medical attention in the UK have been turning to private practitioners. Why would you say this is?
The care is still the best in the world when you finally access it. Unfortunately, the NHS is no longer for purpose. Longer and longer waiting times, over-subscribed hospital beds, more than 4hr wait in A+E and poor social care provision all mean most people’s experience of the NHS is poor and when possible, people turn to the private sector to deliver timely and high-standard patient care
The MHF facilities are nothing short of impressive. Please tell us a little about them. For instance, can most tests and procedures be conducted in your facility?
We have a purpose-built health facility that allows blood testing, imaging and doctor consultations including specialist consultants, aesthetic and minor surgery clinics to all take place under one roof. Based in central London, we run our own lab tests and are proud to be the first Nigerian-owned multi-specialty clinic of this size in central London.
Would you say the quality of your medical staff is commensurate with your top notch facilities?
We take pride in the calibre of doctors that work at MHF. Due to the concierge nature of the work that we do, we make it a priority that all our doctors are well accomplished in their field and even more importantly, they have excellent bedside manners and understand the specific requirements of patients seeking medical tourism.
Your Bespoke Healthcare for International Students (BHIS) concierge service is truly a unique offering. What triggered you to offer this service?
I stumbled upon the idea when I helped a client whose daughter was taken ill at boarding school and the parents were back home and unable to reach the school nurse and eventually the child was taken to A+E. The parents despite being HNIs were unable to gain access to the doctors treating their child. I was asked to help informally and was able to reach the hospital and speak to the consultant as a colleague to gain information on the child’s condition and then relay it to the parent in an easy to digest manner and reassured them. This intervention saved the parents the time and expense of flying in to check on their child themselves. Seeing how happy and immensely grateful the parents were, I realized there must be other parents in similar positions who could do with an advocate for their child on health and also act as an intermediary between the parents and the child.
Has the service been well received?
Thankfully, yes. Parents are thrilled such a service exists and have encouraged us to add more services to the existing service. We started with Nigerian International students and are pleased to announce that we will be offering a similar service in S.Africa, Ghana, Egypt and Zimbabwe by the end of the year.
Is there a subscription fee for the BHIS service? If yes, what does the fee cover?
There is an annual subscription fee of £1500. It gives access to student at any time in the school year to a pastoral team headed by an appointed clinician, and covers GP consultation (face-to-face and virtual), electronic prescription, annual routine wellness check (blood, urine, BP, ECG, BMI and ultrasound), medical letters, 3 counselling sessions, mental health support, and reduced rate to see some of our in-house specialists. Parents can also access their student’s health record electronically.
So how does it work exactly? Is it the student or the school nurse who contacts you if the student is in need of medical attention, and then you take it up from there?
Which obviously means the school would have already been informed earlier of your service. When a student, whether young or adult, requires medical assistance, they can contact our service directly or be referred by the school nurse. Our service integrates with existing school health resources to ensure students receive comprehensive and coordinated care.
Naturally, some others would have caught on to the concierge idea by now but what would you say sets MHF and your BHIS service apart from competition?
There are not that many healthcare providers in the UK from an African background who provide end to end service. Our purpose-built facility in Central London allows us to provide a range of medical services including diagnosis and treatment. Also, our decade-long experience in providing personalised care to HNI’s gives us the edge over any would-be competition. However, we believe more providers like MHF are needed in this health space, but we would always remain the pacesetter.
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