Medical Tourism May Not End In Nigeria – Says Health Minister

Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, has stated that it may be difficult to completely end medical tourism in Nigeria, giving his reasons.

Pate, while addressing journalists in Abuja on Saturday after his three-day briefing session with departments and agencies under the ministry, said that 400,000 health workers in Nigeria are insufficient to cater to the healthcare needs of Nigerians.

According to Pate, the 400,000 workforce comprises community health workers, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, physicians, lab scientists, technicians, and auxiliaries working in the Nigerian healthcare system.

“They are not enough if you think that this number can take care of 220 million people. Our doctor-to-population ratio is lower than what the World Health Organisation expects.

“So there’s still room to produce more. In fact, to produce excess because globally, there’s a shortage of health manpower, there is almost a shortage of 18 million people.

“In developed countries where they are ageing, they are retiring, so they need more people to provide services.

“So if we think about it, we can produce for our own needs, and if some leave, then they go and earn resources and they come back with some experience,” he said.

Medical Tourism Not Peculiar To Nigeria

Speaking further on medical tourism, Pate said that the trend was not peculiar to Nigeria. According to him, it is present in almost all countries of the world, whether developed or developing, as people leave the U.S. to East Asia to have surgical procedures because it is more affordable there.

He said: “However, what seems to be an issue is using public financing to fund it and missing the opportunity to keep some of the resources used in engaging in medical tourism back in the country.

“When I mentioned unlocking the healthcare value-chain, it includes mobilising private capital to invest in the physical infrastructure and the human resources so that some of the services that people go to India for, we will have them here.

“We have begun discussing mechanisms or models where we’ll go on that path as part of expanding the value chain so that it’s not necessarily publicly financed.

“So if you want to have plastic surgery, there’s no need to use government money to pay for your plastic surgery but if we have a facility that will do that here for you, we will keep your dollars here and employ a few attendants here to do the procedure for you,” he noted.

The minister added that because people had options as to where they would seek healthcare, medical tourism might not be completely eradicated.

Pate, however, said at the meeting organised by the ministry to chart a blueprint for Nigeria’s healthcare system, that he cannot undervalue the contribution of health workers that we have in the country.

“We have to acknowledge them, celebrate them, make life easier for them even as we train more or re-train the ones that we have even as we work to resolve their issues.

“We really value the Nigerian health workforce and will continue to support and develop that going forward,” the Health Minister said.

He said that if infrastructure was improved, and people were treated with respect, some of the health practitioners that have left would come back to serve the country.

Pate also assured that the Federal Government would use the opportunity of human capital, private sector capital, and innovation to provide services that people could use in the country.

On getting financing from development partners for the sector, Pate said that the team had met with some of the partners to give them the direction Nigeria needed their support.

According to him, the bulk of the health budget in Nigeria is from the government at different levels, while a smaller portion is what the development partners bring to the table.

“Let’s get to a point whereby we have a programme, and the government’s budget is put on the table, and you are contributing to that, and there’s transparency on both sides.

“Government needs to know more about how the external parties deploy their resources, just as it also needs to open up a little bit more on what is coming from its own side,’’ he said.