Health sector: Boom in Nigeria’s medical tourism over world class facilities, lower costs

Nigeria’s health sector is witnessing a major transformation as the rise in the number of world-class medical centers, funds from Nigerians in the Diaspora and foreigners seeking treatments locally, and expertise from returning medical experts continued to drive the sector’s renaissance, Business Hallmark can report.

According to BH findings, patients from all over the world desirous of cheaper but quality healthcare, including rich Nigerians, resident foreigners, Nigerians in the Diaspora, and patients from neighboring Africa countries troop daily into the country to seek treatments for their ailments.

As a result, the need for overseas medical trips by Nigerians which cost the nation over $1billion (healthcare charges only) annually has drastically reduced as patients now look inward for their health needs.

Efforts by successive administrations to end medical tourism by strengthening and reviving poorly equipped health facilities across the country, and providing the right manpower had largely failed to yield desired results.

This has forced many Nigerians in need of standard medicare to splash over $20 billion in the last decade on medical tourism.

Speaking recently on the development at a public event in Lagos, the National President, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof. Bala Audu, declared that there was an urgent need to reverse medical tourism.

“We want Nigerians to seek medical care within the country, and attract patients from other countries to come to Nigeria for medical care. Nobody wants to invest in a space that’s not profitable. We need to ensure doctors are appreciated for their training and receive correct remuneration”, the NMA President had noted.

Different Strokes

However, the negative trend is gradually changing as the nation’s healthcare sector continues to witness a major turnaround.

Factors influencing the shift, checks revealed, include the springing up of world-class medical facilities in the country almost on a daily basis; lure of lower healthcare costs brought about by the crash of the naira, which made foreign medical trips more expensive; the return to Nigeria of experienced health professionals, as well as the long waiting periods for specialized treatments in many European and American hospitals.

UPSURGE IN WORLD CLASS FACILITIES

One of the factors responsible for the boom in the Nigeria’s health sector is the proliferation of the landscape with advanced healthcare facilities.

Both local and foreign hospitals and healthcare providers have been competing among themselves to set up shop in Nigeria amid a sharp decline in overseas medical visits.

According to findings, medical tourism by rich and sponsored Nigerians in need of medicare has dropped by more than 70 percent in the last two years, leading to a loss of revenue by many health institutions abroad.

This development has pushed many of them, especially hospitals and diagnostics firms, to set up world-class medical centers in Nigeria, or partner with local hospitals and health facilities so that they won’t lose out of the lucrative trade.

For instance, more than 40 world-class medical facilities owned by foreign interests have set up shop in Nigeria in the last five years, while more institutions are entering into partnerships with local partners to set up specialized units in their hospitals.

Some of the facilities already in operations or under construction include the Zenith Medical and Kidney Centers, Lagos and Abuja branches; Nebula Care Hospital located in Ilupeju, Lagos; the 300-bed Padiyath Mayfields Hospitals in Galadimawa, Abuja; the Padiyath Cancer Care Hospital, Abuja; Cedarcrest Hospital, Victoria Island, Lagos; Starcare International Hospital, Maryland, Lagos and the Enugu International Hospital located on Rangers Avenue, Enugu City, and many others.

These facilities are equipped with up to date and world class facilities for the benefits of Nigerians and expatriates, who no longer see  reasons to travel abroad for medical treatment.

LOWER COSTS

Like availability of modern facilities, lower cost is making many of those seeking medicare and would have travelled abroad to seek one to look inward.

Owing to the unification of the multiple foreign exchange windows preciously operated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the present administration, the nation’s currency has lost value, currently exchanging slightly below N1,500 for a dollar.

As a result, the cost of foreign medical trips has ballooned. For instance, a medical procedure in the U.S, which cost N6.9 million when naira was exchanging for N460/$, has spiked to N22.5million, excluding other expenses like flight tickets, accommodation and drugs, which have also risen because of the devaluation of the naira.

For instance, the cost of a kidney transplant in Nigeria ranges between N11 million to N20 million, depending on the hospital (whether government or privately-owned, facilities, location, surgeons experience and post-transplant care requirements.

Nigeria, checks revealed, currently has about 20 health facilities offering kidney transplants. While eight are government owned, 12 are privately-owned.

However, out of the eight government-owned tertiary hospitals doing transplantation in the country, only three, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano and the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Umuahia, are functional, according to the President, Transplant Association of Nigeria (TAN), Prof. Jacob Awobusuyi.

According to Awobusuyi, the remaining five, Lagos University Teaching Hospital; Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State; University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan; University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, and the Delta State University Teaching Hospital are dormant.

While there are no official figures on the actual kidney transplants done in the country annually, estimates by health experts put it at 120 annually.

One of the privately-owned facilities in Nigeria, Zenith Medical and Kidney Centers, performed 33 successful kidney transplants in 2025.

According to BH checks, cost of kidney transplant in other countries of the world vary from country to country. For instance, while it cost about $65,000 (N97.5million) each on the average for Americans covered by Medicaid or Medicare to get transplant done, rich patients with private health plans cough out as much as $215,000 (N322.5million).

The costs of doing kidney transplant in other countries on the average are Europe €70,000 (N120.4 million); India $15,000 (N22.5 million); Pakistan $10,000 (N15 million) and Egypt $12,500 (N18.8 million).

Using the combined average costs of kidney transplants in other countries, the 33 transplants performed by Zenith Medical and Kidney Centers between January to September 2025, translates to a saving of about $25,000 (N37.5 million) for one transplant and $825,000 (N1.237 billion) for the three  combined.

Meanwhile, this amount excludes other costs like medical tests, transportation, accommodation and drugs priced in dollars that would have entered the purse of foreign hospitals.

SHORTER WAITING PERIOD

Unlike in Europe and America that have longer waiting periods for patients awaiting procedures, private facilities in Nigeria have very short waiting period. In fact, a patient requiring a kidney or heart transplant in Nigeria can be wheeled into the operating theater a week or less after doing required tests, getting donors and making necessary payments.

According to BH checks, there are currently over 93,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant in the U.S where patients are prioritized on the list based on several factors, including age, blood type, availability of organs, immune system and several other factors.

For instance, the waiting time for a deceased donor (terminally ill or condemned to death donors) can drag to five years, and in some states, up to 10 years.

As a result, younger patients with more years to live and contribute to the society are prioritized over older patients, who had advanced in age

As a result, wealthy patients, who cannot endure the endless waiting, opt for kidney transplant procedures in private facilities, which sometimes cost as much as $300,000 or more.

Apart from this, countries in the U.S and Western Europe frown at organs buying, with heavy jail term awaiting both donors and patients caught in the act.

Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice, it would be recalled, were recently jailed in the UK for trying to induce a young Nigerian boy to donate his kidney to their ailing daughter.

Many Nigerians and African, who cannot afford the scrutiny of regulatory authorities, high costs of medical procedures, or endure the long waiting period have now found solace in Nigeria.

FAITH IN RETURNING HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

Another factor driving the preference for Nigerian health facilities is the return of experienced Nigerian-born health professionals in the Diaspora into the country to  man the world class medical  centers springing up in the country.

Majority of the returning health professionals, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory technologist, findings revealed, are retirees and specialists in their prime tired of staying abroad.

“Many of these well trained specialists attended to Nigerians during their visits to hospitals abroad. As a result, sick Nigerians, who are used to them during their brief stay abroad prefer to let them handle their ailments now that they are in Nigeria.

“In fact, some of them were encouraged and bankrolled by wealthy Nigerians to come back home set up their own medical centres.

Lucrative Partnership

“Meanwhile, they (specialists) don’t need much prodding. They have been longing to return to their fatherland after decades of living and practicing abroad”, said Dr. Moji Oloruntoba, a medical doctor based in Lagos.

Apart from Nigerians both home and abroad now preferring to stay home to access local health facilities, well to do or sponsored Africans from neighboring countries like Ghana, Cameroon, Benin, Angola, Liberia, Togo, The Gambia and others have chosen Nigeria as their point of call for medical treatment owing largely to lower medical cost.

Due to recent government’s decisions to end the policy of pegging the naira at lower rates, the currencies of many African countries now have more value than the naira.

“With more cash in their hands when converted to naira, these people from neighboring countries can now afford the best of medicare in Nigeria.

“They don’t need to go to Europe, America or Asia again, where they will be spending more. Even India, which has relatively lower cost of medicare is being abandoned because of other fees like transportation and accommodation.

“As you know, all patients going abroad for treatment are accompanied. So, apart from paying the hospital fees for the patients procedure(s), families or sponsors also spend huge amounts in foreign currency on return tickets for, at least, two people (patient and escort), their feeding and accommodation abroad.

“So, if you look at it, Nigeria’s health sector is reaping from the liberalization of the foreign exchange market”, a stakeholder in the nation’s health sector, who did not want his name in print told our correspondent.

It would be recalled that Vice President Kashim Shettima had during the visit of a delegation of the he NMA leadership to the Presidential Villa earlier in the year, said the growing reputation of Nigerian hospitals in providing world-class healthcare was attracting global attention.

“There is reverse medical tourism these days fundamentally because of the level of care at some of our hospitals.

“Recently, 13 patients from the United States came to Nigeria for kidney transplants at Zenith Medical and Kidney Center because it is much cheaper here, and they receive the same level of expertise available anywhere in the world”, the visibly elated Shettima had said.

Also speaking at the commissioning of Nebula Care Hospital, Ilupeju, Lagos, built by an Indian doctor and businessman, Dr. J.G. Makadia in December 2024, the Consulate General/High Commissioner of India to Nigeria, Shri Chandramouli Kumar Kern, said the facility has big implications for the country’s health sector.

“I am very glad to open this facility, Nebula Care Hospital. It is going to be very significant in the health care system in Lagos and Nigeria. Nebula is a very well-known name in the field of orthopaedic implant and related items, they have many products which are very helpful in the rehabilitation of patients.