The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has revealed that Nigeria and other African countries are collectively losing approximately $7 billion annually to medical tourism, a trend that is draining foreign exchange and stalling the growth of local healthcare systems.

Speaking at the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings (AAM2025) in Abuja on Thursday, Mrs. Oluranti Doherty, Afreximbank’s Export Development Managing Director, said the trend was hindering economic development and weakening local healthcare infrastructure.

She described the rising cost of medical tourism as a significant drain on African economies, pointing out that Nigeria alone loses an estimated $1.1 billion annually, while the continent collectively forfeits about $7 billion each year.

“We had our member countries losing a lot of foreign exchange to medical tourism.

“We just talked about Nigeria, where our medical tourism annually is about $1.1 billion.

“The entire continent is about $7 billion just because we can’t help ourselves when we come up with chronic diseases.

“That’s money that’s going to other economies, building their institutions,” she said.

She noted that the capital outflow diverts funds that could be invested in local healthcare.

Doherty added that the development contributes to a “brain drain” of skilled medical professionals from across the continent.

“Another thing we noted was a great way we were losing a lot of our good talents.

“The best of talents in the health sector were going out of the continent, working in places such as India, Asia, the Middle East, America, and that often was an issue,” she said.

Doherty said the bank launched its Health and Medical Tourism Programme in 2012, long before the broader recognition of healthcare’s connection to economic security in response to the challenge.

“Afreximbank was innovative. I call us the innovative financier, the innovative investors. We recognized this part since 2012, and we set about doing something about it. A key initiative borne from this foresight is the Africa Medical Center of Excellence (AMCE) in Abuja, a 170-bed facility boasting state-of-the-art equipment, including an 18 MeV cyclotron, a three-Tesla MRI, and a 20-bed ICU. Afreximbank has invested over $450 million to establish and scale up this project,” she said.

The official praised the leadership behind the AMCE, noting, “Afreximbank had to go where no one has gone before; Afreximbank’s leaders adhered to the dreamers.

“The AMCE aims to provide healthcare services comparable to global standards, not just African standards.

“I’m talking about global standards. I’m talking about Africans coming up with solutions to challenges,” she said.

She, however, stressed the need to build trust in local healthcare facilities and ensure access for all to stem medical tourism.