ATE 2026: When people haven’t eaten, healthcare becomes secondary — CEO Synlab, Okorie

The Chief Executive Officer of Synlab Nigeria, Kenneth Okolie, has argued that privatising healthcare alone will not solve Nigeria’s healthcare challenges unless the country also addresses widespread poverty and expands access to healthcare financing.

Okolie made the submission while speaking during a panel session titled “Will Privatising Healthcare Save It?” at the Africa Technology Expo 2026 held in Lagos on Saturday.

According to him, investments in hospitals and healthcare personnel will have limited impact if millions of Nigerians remain unable to afford medical care.

“As much as we solve infrastructure, personnel, if we don’t solve for lifting people out of poverty, the end goal we desire will be mirage. When people pay for healthcare out of pocket, the first question people are going to ask is, have I eaten, have my children eaten? If these questions are not answered, the next thing a person having headache will do is go to church.”

He stressed that healthcare reforms should not be treated in isolation but must be integrated into broader economic policies aimed at improving citizens’ livelihoods.

“The government needs to work very hard alongside private sector to lift people out of poverty.”

While advocating greater private sector participation in healthcare infrastructure, Okolie maintained that affordability remains the biggest challenge.

“We cannot solve healthcare in itself as a silo. We cannot solve healthcare by just building new hospitals, start manufacturing things locally, the big question is who will pay for the healthcare? To solve this problem, we need to find a way to take away this question from people.”

He proposed expanding pooled healthcare financing through broader contributions from working Nigerians, saying such a system could improve access to quality healthcare while generating sustainable returns.

“We need to have a system where there is collective pool funds by individuals. For instance, Fifty per cent of gainfully employed Nigerians contributing 20 per cent of their income into healthcare funds: these funds could be reinvested, could yield returns. We need to get people out of poverty first before we can solve the problem of healthcare.”

The Synlab CEO also lamented the tendency of many Nigerians to self-medicate instead of seeking proper medical diagnosis, attributing the practice to ignorance and financial constraints.

“Most people when they are sick is go to the pharmacy. It is a function of ignorance and how much they have. The cheapest form of care is prevention, the next cheapest form of care is accurate diagnosis. The most expensive form of care is treatment without diagnosis.”

Speaking on the role of technology, Okolie said artificial intelligence and telemedicine are already transforming healthcare delivery by improving diagnostic speed and extending specialist care to underserved communities.

“Tech has improved outcome. Not just ChatGPT. In pathological services, imagine the ease of diagnosing cancer, you can do that now easier and faster than what it used to. We are able to interpret result quicker.”

He added: “Also telemedicine is also helping a lot. Imagine a doctor in Lagos treating a patient in Ekiti, it is happening. Tech is playing a huge role. Especially for things that will take a lot of time to do, but tech has brought a lot of opportunities.”

Okolie further called for increased funding for healthcare and stronger collaboration between the public and private sectors.

He concluded by saying trust between government and private investors will be essential to building a sustainable healthcare system.

“There is a lot that can be done between the public sector and private sector, one thing is trust. And we need to ask ourselves: what can we do to lift people out of poverty else we continue to have this problem again and again.”

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