Nigeria: Medicinal Tourism - High Tech Diagnostic Ready to the Rescue?

ALL over the world medical tourism has become a major source of income. Saudi Arabia, India, Germany and even Dubai earn very high revenue from medical tourism as a result of the huge investments their governments and individuals made in constructing and equipping hospitals, laboratories and other medical centres with state-of-the-art facilities.

Nigeria loses billions of naira yearly through Nigerians who travel abroad for medical check up and treatment. It is so sad that teaching hospitals, general hospitals and other medical centres in Nigeria lack basic facilities to attend to patients. For some years back, however, the Federal Government has made some efforts to improve the facilities of teaching hospitals but the couldn't get it best.

Global medical tourism

Recently, the President of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr. Osabon Enabulele, come to notice that India hospitals made up over $260 million from medical tourism from Nigeria alone in 2012. He said that India have a big projected in 2013, to realise between $1 billion and $2 billion from the global medical tourism market that is collectively worth over $20 billion.

His assertions indicate that Nigeria which is one of India's largest patron will greatly contribute in percentage to this expected revenue. The NMA President stated that the decision of Nigerians, particularly political office holders, to seek for improved medical healthcare abroad is costing the country over $500 million annually and that a breakdown of the figure shows that an average Nigerian traveller on a medical tourism spends between $20,000 and $40,000 on a trip.

In his lamentations, Enabulele explained that about 5,000 Nigerians visit India and other countries in Europe and America every month in search of various medical diagnostic services such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI, Computed Tomography, CT, scan, Electrocardiography, ECG, mammography and dialysis services as well as treatments to medical conditions that can be satisfactorily managed in the country.

This situation, if not redressed, will continue to drastically reduce the nation's foreign exchange which could otherwise be utilised in improving infrastructure. This is why analysts want indigenous and foreign investors to see Nigeria as an investors' haven in medicare.

Observers are of the view that with a population scattered across the world yearning for medical attention, the privileged few who can afford to travel abroad for efficient diagnosis and treatment will have no need for frequent trips abroad.