Opportunities will exist for Nigerian health providers on importation medical equipment (particularly new and innovative equipment), as the government considers extensive upgrades and development of hospital infrastructure.
Nigeria’s fast growing demand for use medical equipments amid a low domestic capacity to match the country’s need opens opportunity for savvy investors to plug the gap.
According to reports by Fitch Solutions, the Nigerian medical device market will record double-digit growth in local currency and will grow at a 2017-2022 CAGR of 9.0% to reach US$ 184.4 million by 2022.
Technology is transforming how health care is delivered in Nigeria, giving more people in access to better care. As well, easier access to data helps both doctors and policymakers make better-informed decisions about how to continue to improve the system.
As the types of illnesses change and prevalence are increasing, millions of the population still lacks adequate health services and access is still the greatest challenge to health care delivery in Nigeria.
“Nigeria is about 20 percent of the entire Africa population, so it is a big market. We must work with the whole world and this why we are seeing these innovations of new technology of medical device by private individuals and starts up.” said Francis Faduyile, the president Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).
However, China is the leading and dominates supplier of medical device to Nigeria which most private clinics can afford, with a 47% share of the import total in 2016.
Despite considerable restraints in funding issues, poor infrastructure, and staff shortages particularly in the public sector. Nigeria’s growing medical devices market still offers potential for growth and create huge opportunity for investor.
The private healthcare sector is very sophisticated and boasts world class facilities with several centers of excellence. Recently, the Federal Government has said it will upgrade the 22 teaching hospitals in the country and construct a new 500-bed state-of-the-art Specialist Hospital in Abuja through Public Private Partnership (PPP), according to the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).
Patrick Ederaro, acting head, Media and Publicity, ICRC made this known in a statement on recently in Abuja.” the concession model for the existing teaching hospitals’ equipment that would be supplied would be world class standard and life cycle maintenance.”
To take advantage, the private sector is emerging as the indispensable player to improve Nigeria’s healthcare fortunes they can invest in medical devices in high demand such as diagnostic imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography scan (CT), Digital X-Ray, Ultrasound, Mammography and Ultrasound Scans, patient’s aids, and orthopaedics.
Also Medical disposables especially those for testing for malaria parasites, drug abuse, and infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis will also do well in Nigeria as are related articles designed by the manufacturer for diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of disease burden.
Private sectors as well have investment opportunities exist for Nigeria healthcare firms to establish hospitals and clinics with treatment capabilities and cutting-edge medical technologies.
Meanwhile, Nigeria can learn from South Africa been one of the largest medical devices’ markets in the MEA region. South Africa spending on medical devices as a proportion of wealth is lower than average for this region, at around 0.3% of GDP and 4.0% of health expenditure (2015).
Projections for 2019 show that that the market will grow at around 6.7 percent in US dollar terms, amounting to USD1.8 billion by 2023. The South Africa market growth will likely be influenced by national legislation related to the government’s NHI program, increased government spending on healthcare and priority programs, as well as the Competition Commission’s investigation into private healthcare costs.
Analyst see Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria as a necessary medium for deals in hospitals and clinics to enhance treatment abilities, improve in medical technologies advancement are a booming development and boost the healthcare services in Nigeria.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
