Nigeria loses approximately $1.1 billion each year to medical tourism, according to the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), which described the trend as a major drain on the country’s foreign exchange and a setback to healthcare development.
This was revealed by the Managing Director of Export Development at Afreximbank, Oluranti Doherty, during the Bank’s 32nd Annual Meetings held in Abuja.
She noted that Nigeria’s overreliance on foreign medical services is not only diverting critical funds to other economies but also stalling local investment in healthcare infrastructure.
“We’re losing significant foreign exchange to medical tourism,” Doherty said. “For Nigeria alone, it’s around $1.1 billion every year. Across the continent, the figure rises to about $7 billion. That’s money helping to build healthcare systems in other countries instead of strengthening ours.”
In addition to capital flight, she emphasized the worsening brain drain in the healthcare sector, citing the steady migration of skilled medical professionals to countries in Asia, the Middle East, and North America.
To counter these losses, Doherty highlighted Afreximbank’s Health and Medical Tourism Programme, launched in 2012, and pointed to the Africa Medical Center of Excellence (AMCE) in Abuja as a flagship project.
The AMCE, a 170-bed facility equipped with cutting-edge technology—including an 18 MeV cyclotron and a 3-Tesla MRI—has received over $450 million in funding from the bank.
“The AMCE is not just for African standards—it aims to meet global standards. We believe Africans must provide African solutions,” Doherty added.
She called on African governments, particularly Nigeria, to rebuild confidence in local healthcare systems through policy reforms, investments, and quality assurance. This, she said, is vital to reversing the medical tourism trend and keeping both funds and expertise within the continent.
