The sectoral debate organised by the House of Representatives may have come and gone but its memories will linger in the minds of Nigerians for a long time to come.

One of the takeaways from the session was the negative impact of medical tourism on the Nigerian economy. In its presentation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) blamed the free-fall of the naira on the huge sum of $40 billion spent by Nigerians on foreign education and medical tourism in the last 10 years. Governor of the apex bank, Olayemi Cardoso, revealed that Nigerians spent $39.56 billion on foreign education and medical tourism from 2010 to 2020.

Specifically, the CBN Governor pointed out that Nigerians spent $11.06 billion on medical tourism within the same period.

“Similarly, medical treatment abroad has incurred around US$11.01 billion in costs during the same period. Consequently, over the past decade, foreign exchange demand for education and healthcare has totalled nearly US$40 billion. Notably, this amount surpasses the total current foreign exchange reserves of the CBN. Mitigating a significant portion of this demand could have resulted in a considerably stronger naira today,” he said.

In its determination to reduce the trend and justify the commitment of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to meeting the health needs of Nigerians, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has welcomed the proposed African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE), Abuja.

The world-class medical facility will also provide a full range of medical services, including diagnostics, treatment, nuclear medicine, surgery and post-surgical care. It will operate in collaboration with the King’s College Hospital, London (KCH), leveraging KCH’s diagnostic, clinical and capacity building expertise to become a world-class healthcare institution.

The facility is projected to provide state-of-the-art services to over 350,000 patients in Nigeria and other African countries within its first five years of operation and as well attract talents back to the ecosystem on the Continent, providing better access to much needed healthcare.

The Centre, an initiative by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), entails the implementation and operationalisation of a 500-bed quaternary level medical facility that will offer a wide range of services and specialisations including oncology, cardiology, hematology, and general care capabilities.

Expected to commence operations in the first quarter of 2025, stakeholders say the modern medical centre will not only draw researchers and scholars from existing colleges and universities of medical sciences but also stem the tide of medical tourism in Nigeria and the African continent in general.

Speaking when he recently hosted a senior delegation from King’s College Hospital, London, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono said the Fund is always ready to partner with various organisations in the area of research to address challenges facing the country.

Echono expressed delight in the opportunity to collaborate, saying any effort to create local content that would bring modern facilities to the right faculties that will ensure delivery of tertiary healthcare to Nigerians will always be embraced.

His words: “In recognition of the huge challenge we face as a country, especially in the area of life sciences, medical sciences and the huge foreign exchange expended annually on medical tourism to so many countries on the globe, this is a welcome development. We (Nigeria) are also establishing institutions that will focus on the health and life sciences sector and we believe if we can have this type of partnership and draw the right personnel, and with Afreximbank’s involvement, we believe we will be able to provide modern facilities that will set the standard.

“It’s a huge market with over 200 million and it’s a largely unexplored terrain because we don’t have such facilities presently here. And so anyone that will be coming will not only be blazing the trail but also have an entire landscape for themselves. We have designed specific programmes that will enable us to collaborate with this institution when it comes on board. Given our heritage and long years of partnership with the United Kingdom, we are always delighted to have opportunities for collaboration in various fronts.”

The Executive Secretary also revealed that the agency has trained over 100,000 academic and non-academic staff across beneficiary institutions in the country, even as he gave assurance that the fund would explore areas of collaboration with the Afreximbank and King’s College in the areas of staff training and research as well as provision and upgrade of facilities.

“We also have a robust training programme for our personnel including faculties of our institutions. So, again we will look at that opportunity because TETFund has our academic staff training programme through which over 40,000 academics have been trained in various programmes and another 65,000 have attended conferences, workshops and so on to improve their skills and knowledge. Again, opportunities exist and the potential is huge for collaboration in the area of research, academic training and also partnerships to drive joint programmes. As we watch and look forward to your programme with Afreximbank and the Centre of Excellence scheme, we also have keyed in with the World Bank on their own centres of excellence,” he added.