Nigeria spent $2.38m on medical tourism in first half of 2024
Nigeria has spent about $2.38m on foreign healthcare-related services from January to June 2024.
This is according to a report from the Central Bank of Nigeria detailing expenditures on health-related and social services through the sectoral utilisation of foreign exchange.
The report provides a breakdown of spending per month, indicating that $2.3 million was spent in January, followed by negligible amounts in February ($0), March ($0.01 million), April ($0), May ($0.05 million), and June ($0.02 million).
Notably, the expenditure on foreign healthcare during the first half of 2024 surpassed the $0.69 million spent in the latter half of 2023, marking a significant increase of $1.69 million from January to June.
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Notably, the expenditure on foreign healthcare during the first half of 2024 surpassed the $0.69 million spent in the latter half of 2023, marking a significant increase of $1.69 million from January to June.
However, when compared to the first half of 2023, where spending reached $3.13 million, there has been a decrease of $0.75 million.
During the inauguration of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, President Bola Tinubu announced a healthcare expansion program aimed at retraining 120,000 frontline health workers, stating that this initiative intends to address the ongoing trend of outbound medical tourism.
Commenting on the medical tourism spending, a professor of Public Health at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State and former National Chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Tanimola Akande, said the reported increase in medical tourism cost, as reported by the CBN, was an indication that so much money in hard currency was still being spent to seek medical care outside the country.
Akande highlighted that “Medical tourism is often perpetuated by elites. This is an indication that recent investment in high-class private health facilities in Nigeria has not been able to remarkably reduce the cost of medical tourism in Nigeria.
“The money spent on medical tourism, if channelled to improving local health facilities, will go a long way to reduce medical tourism in Nigeria.
“The government should continue to promote investment in quality healthcare services in Nigeria. The government also needs to do a lot more to reduce the brain drain challenge and provide an enabling environment for high-class quality health care to flourish in Nigeria.”
Proofreading by Fa’izatu Aliyu Doma, Journalist at Neptune Prime.
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