”Nigeria Loses $1.1bn Anually To Medical Tourism” – Afreximbank

The African Export-Import Bank has revealed that Nigeria loses an estimated $1.1bn annually to medical tourism, a trend it described as a significant drain on the country’s foreign exchange and a major impediment to the development of its healthcare sector.

This disclosure was made by the Bank’s Export Development Managing Director, Mrs Oluranti Doherty, during the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings held in Abuja on Thursday.

She said the continued reliance on foreign medical care was not only stalling investment in local health infrastructure but also affecting the broader economy. “We had our member countries losing a lot of foreign exchange to medical tourism,” she said.

“We just talked about Nigeria, where our medical tourism annually is about $1.1bn. The entire continent is about $7bn just because we can’t help ourselves when we come up with chronic diseases. That’s money that’s going to other economies, building their institutions.”

According to her, the capital flight from Nigeria and other African countries towards medical expenses abroad represents missed opportunities to invest in critical sectors at home.

She also highlighted the ongoing loss of skilled healthcare workers to foreign countries, further compounding the challenges facing the local medical industry.

“Another thing we noted was a great way we were losing a lot of our good talents,” she said. “The best of talents in the health sector were going out of the continent, working in places such as India, Asia, the Middle East, America, and that often was an issue.”