Africa Medical Centre to Make Nigeria Medical Tourism Destination, Says Dabiri-Erewa

Rebecca Ejifoma

The Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said that the establishment of the Africa Medical Centre for Excellence (AMCE) would make Nigeria a destination for medical tourism.

She noted this in Abuja while receiving the CEO of AMCE, Mr Brian Deaver, and his team on a courtesy call.

Dabiri-Erewa added that the number of medical facilities planned for the centre would go a long way to not only reduce the brain drain of medical professionals but also be a game changer in medical tourism.

With the establishment of AMCE, she believes that the nation’s healthcare system would ultimately become a medical hub with a major investment deal coming to the country.

“Having NiDCOM on board as a partner will help in attracting Nigerian medical personnel

working in the diaspora to tap into their expertise and capacity building,” she added.

The CEO further assured the AMCE team: “With the assemblage of this wonderful team, I am optimistic that the project is already a huge success. I, therefore, assure you of our support and partnership in this regard.”

For Dabiri-Erewa, if the vision and mission of the project were fully implemented as conceived, they would overhaul the current situation of the nation’s health sector.

On his part, Deaver described the project as a world-class medical service hub aimed at providing efficient healthcare delivery in Nigeria, especially in cancer and cardiovascular-related treatments.

According to him, the centre would reverse the flow of external medical tourism, which is estimated at $6  billion annually.

The AMCE CEO continued: “With the ongoing project in Nigeria, over 1000 Nigerian medical and non-medical staffers will be recruited and gainfully employed.”

Deaver is also certain that this would be one of the many world-class cancer treatment and diagnosis centres to be built in Nigeria with over $700 million in funding support from AfreximBank.