The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the healthcare intervention fund to N200 billion from the initial N100 billion due to demand.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN said this in Lagos at the official commissioning of the Dutchess International Hospital, the brainchild of the Reddington Hospital Group.
“When we started Covid, CBN set aside N100 billion to support the healthcare sector, but upon rise in demand, we have disbursed N107.7 billion, supporting 114 healthcare projects which include medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, dental services, eye clinics both private and public hospital just to mention a few,” Emefiele said.
Speaking further, he said, “we had taken up N100 million to support but the monetary policy has said we should move it further up to N200 billion. We would continue to do whatever can be done to support healthcare”.
“I want to encourage our banks to lend to them and also members of our private sector community to invest as you don’t have to be a doctor to own a medical facility,” Emefiele said.
“Monetary policy recognises that Nigeria parades some of the best in the world. We need to encourage everybody to come back home. We will continue to do the little we can to give you the support to grow your business. Most importantly, more private sector players need to look at medical facilities that will help reverse the medical tourism, and we will not be spending dollar abroad, but create more dollars,” he said.
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Emefiele said medical tourism put a huge strain on the country’s foreign reserves and more importantly, for every $1 billion allocated to medical treatment abroad, there is less than $1 billion that could be available to other critical sectors of the economy.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said the Duchess International Hospital was by standards and personnel comparable to anywhere in the world.
He said reversing medical tourism by delivering high standards of care using the most advanced technology and treatment to give the fastest and most convenient access to the best medical expertise available anywhere in the world and “I concur”.
Osinbajo said with investments like this seeking high quality medical personnel the country can even reverse the trend of doctors leaving the country, as the reasons for their leaving touch on improved remuneration and better facilities.
He said only serious private sector investments in high quality healthcare services offering top compensation for its personnel could possibly create an attractive proposition to reverse the trend.
“So the only way that we can ensure that people stay is to reward their services and I think that this is a good way to start,” he said.
Adetokunbo Shitta-Bey, the chief executive officer of the hospital said the 6-year project will not only provide adequate substitute for medical remedies for chronic disease sought abroad but will also address disproportionate distribution of healthcare in Lagos.
Also speaking, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State said in this year’s budget, the state was moving from 12.1 percent to 13.6 percent in the health sector.
Herbert Wigwe, group managing director/CEO of Access Bank Plc said all private sector participants should take a cue from this. “We need many more of this. Whatever profession you engage in, once you excel, Nigeria gets better,” he said.
