Medical Tourism, Public Health and Economic Development in Nigeria: Issues and Prospects

Background: Nigeria is a densely populated nation with a high prevalence of communicable diseases and increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases, a manifestation of the “double burden of disease” concept. This is partly due to poor healthcare delivery system. Nigerians have joined the ever-increasing number of people who travel abroad for the treatment of various medical conditions.

Objective: To discuss the concept, effects, and consequences of medical tourism on the Nigerian healthcare delivery system and economy

Methods: The study was a narrative overview of selected studies published in the English Language in Google scholar, Pubmed, Medline, and recognized reference materials. Search terms were medical tourism, health tourism, public health, health system, Nigeria, and health access. The terms were individually used and in a combination of two or more using AND/OR as link words with truncations where necessary. The study period covered January2006 to August 2017, and lasted from January 2016 to July 2016.

Results: Nigeria with an estimated population of 180 million people loses $1.35 USD Billion annually to medical tourism. An average of 9000 medical tours occurs monthly from Nigeria to other countries. India is a major destination with an average of 500 visits monthly and affordable treatments in modern medicine and specialties. The average growth rate of medical tourism in Nigeria is 20.0% annually. In 2013, 34,522 Nigerian tourists visited India, out of which 15328 (42.4%) were medical tourists. An estimated 700 Nigerian doctors move to Europe annually.

Conclusion: Poor healthcare delivery system encourages migration of medical tourists from Nigeria. This leads to loss of huge foreign exchange and medical work force. This coupled with poor government expenditures on healthcare has impoverished the sector. Improved and sustained health sector spending by the government with good public sector support in healthcare are major leveraging mechanisms.