The Federal Government (FG) said it going to set up affordable world-class health facilities to end medical tourism and brain drain in Nigeria.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture on Tuesday said Nigeria would soon put an end to the over ₦500 billion being spent on medical tourism annually.
He said the country would soon welcome foreign patients and medical personnel on its shores rather than having its citizens travel yearly and spending more than ₦500 billion for medical tourism.
“We as a country will also conserve our foreign reserves while earning foreign exchange, we will begin to reverse the brain drain in the health sector; create jobs and provide affordable and standard healthcare for our people.
“Of course, facilities like Duchess International are veritable tools for job creation, in addition to attracting medical tourists from across the world.
“It’s a new dawn for the health sector and we are proud of what Duchess and other healthcare facilities are doing in bringing about this new dawn,’’ the minister said.
Mohammed noted that although the facility was private-sector driven, the Federal Government provided the enabling environment and funding for its realisation.
