Osinbajo: Serious investment in healthcare will end medical tourism

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says with serious investment in the health sector, Nigeria can correct the trend of citizens seeking quality medical care in foreign countries.

Osinbajo stated this on Thursday at the official unveiling of the Evercare Hospital, located in the Lekki axis of Lagos state.

In a statement by Laolu Akande, his media aide, Osinbajo noted that the investment of the Evercare health fund in top medical care in Nigeria, will have a positive effect on thr country’s economy.

“The business case for more top quality medical care in Nigeria has always seemed quite obvious, but I think the fact that the Evercare Health Fund (a US$1 billion emerging markets healthcare fund) has chosen to invest in healthcare in Nigeria, clearly confirms even to the greatest sceptics that we are seeing the birth of what may well become one of the fastest growth areas in a resurgent Nigerian economy,” Osinbajo was quoted to have said.

“We must reverse the trend of outbound medical tourism and there is the need to attract, not just medical tourists from our neighbours in the region, but also become the place of choice for even developed countries’ medical tourists looking to jump long queues for specialised procedures at home.”

Osinbajo also commended the administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, for containing the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

“I want to commend you, Mr. Governor and your team, on your handling of the COVID-19 pandemic so far. Thanks for showing to the world what strong knowledgeable leadership can deliver even with the wave of an unprecedented global adversity. You have done very well,” he said.

On his part, Sanwo-Olu noted that his administration has shown commitment to improving the healthcare system in the state, adding that Lagos is working with the private sector to reduce medical tourism and brain drain.

“For us as a government, we have raised our strength on health, especially our capital expenditure on health. We are currently renovating six of our general hospitals. We are currently building two new general hospitals,’’ he said.

“We are building a children’s hospital; we are building an international research centre. All these are meant to complement what we have currently.

“We will also scale up tertiary health centre. We will be discussing with you in the next coming months what we want to turn LASUTH to. All of these are to make healthcare accessible and affordable.”