The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has disclosed that Nigeria loses an estimated $1.1 billion each year to medical tourism — a development it describes as a major strain on the country’s foreign exchange and a serious setback to the growth of its healthcare sector.
Mrs. Oluranti Doherty, the Bank’s Managing Director for Export Development, made this known during the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings held on Thursday in Abuja.
According to Doherty, the heavy dependence on overseas medical treatment continues to discourage investments in Nigeria’s health infrastructure and impacts the economy negatively. “We are seeing our member countries losing substantial foreign exchange due to medical tourism,” she stated. “In Nigeria alone, it’s about $1.1 billion annually. Across Africa, the figure stands at $7 billion. This is money that’s strengthening healthcare systems in other countries, not ours.”
She further explained that this capital flight represents lost opportunities for local development and underscored the urgent need to channel such funds into strengthening domestic health services.
Doherty also raised concerns about the persistent brain drain in Africa’s health sector, noting that top medical professionals are relocating to countries like India, the Middle East, the U.S., and others in search of better opportunities. “We are losing our finest talents abroad, which compounds the problems we’re trying to fix,” she said.
In response to this challenge, The African Export-Import Bank launched its Health and Medical Tourism Programme in 2012, recognizing the strong link between healthcare quality and economic growth.
She highlighted the Africa Medical Center of Excellence (AMCE) in Abuja as one of the bank’s landmark initiatives under the programme. “Afreximbank took the bold step,” she said. “We’ve committed over $450 million to the AMCE, a 170-bed state-of-the-art facility equipped with cutting-edge technology like a three-Tesla MRI, 18 MeV cyclotron, and a 20-bed ICU.”
Doherty emphasized that the AMCE was designed to offer world-class healthcare services, aiming to match global — not just regional — standards. “This is about Africans providing world-class solutions to African problems,” she added.
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She concluded by calling on Nigeria and other African nations to restore public confidence in local healthcare systems and implement policies that ensure quality and accessible care, thereby reducing the outflow of patients and professionals alike.
