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Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has said that the bank has increased its healthcare intervention from N100 billion to N200 billion in order to save foreign exchange spent on medical tourism
Emefiele ,who disclosed this at the opening of the Duchess International Hospital in Lagos,lamented that medical tourism put a huge strain the country’s foreign reserves
He added:“Medical tourism put a huge strain on our 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 our economy.
“As part of this effort, the CBN led by a select private sector stakeholders supported COVID-19 through CACOVID and in a bid to further drive the recovery of our economy. Monetary policy recognised that while the interventions in our manufacturing sector is essential it is also essential, we continue to give support to the medical sector of our country.
“When intervention on COVID commenced, 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.
“We had taken up N100 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”.
He advocated the need for banks improve on loan facilities to the healthcare and also called on members of the organised private sector to invest in the sector.
Speaking,the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Hebert Wigwe said, “I do hope such hospitals reverses medical tourism the country. For all private sectors participants take a cue from this, we need many more of this.”
Besides, the Chairman Reddington Hospital Group, Dr. Adeyemi Onabowale, noted that one of the major problems with healthcare in Nigeria is insufficient funding provided for both the public and the private sector this needs to be addressed.
He also added that the true cost of healthcare anywhere in the world is phenomenal with the depreciating currency. Healthcare funding should be bench against a stable currency.
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