SIR: There is a huge unmet need for investment in healthcare infrastructure in Nigeria. A 2020 Knight Frank report indicated that, except for South Africa, all African countries fall short of the global average ratio of 2.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people and require significant investments in healthcare infrastructure to catch up with the rest of the world.
Nigeria, for instance, would need 386,000 additional beds and $82 billion of healthcare real estate investments to reach the global average. In comparison, to meet the global average, Egypt, Uganda, and Kenya would need 134,000, 101,000, and 70,000 additional beds, and $23 billion, $11 billion, and $6 billion in healthcare real estate investments, respectively.
Up until this moment, Nigeria scores poorly on a variety of metrics comparing healthcare services and infrastructure around the world. Physical structures which include buildings and other physical amenities such as pipe borne water, good access roads, electricity and transportation are deficient in most health facilities in the country. Also, technological equipment meant for hospital use, such as surgical equipment, computers, power generating plants, and consumables are either inadequate or not available in most health facilities in the country. It should be noted that poor location of healthcare facilities will most likely guarantee under-utilization of healthcare services. There is also poor facility management and maintenance culture as well as a lack of standardization for health infrastructure. Although there is a GIS system on health facilities in Nigeria, there is urgent need for its standardization and harmonization.
The Nigerian market offers huge potential for investment in healthcare infrastructure for both domestic and foreign investors. And with increasing globalization comes growing rates of non-communicable / chronic diseases in the country, leading to an increase in demand for healthcare services, both in primary and tertiary care. The growing digital health and health tech spaces are rapidly bringing new technologies and innovation to Nigeria that make healthcare provision more efficient, potentially offering significant growth opportunities for investors.
However, several challenges exist that create barriers to attracting investment in healthcare infrastructure to Nigeria. Low insurance coverage rates and high out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure prevent Nigerian patients from accessing quality healthcare, particularly preventive care. Additionally, low government expenditure on healthcare often leads to poor maintenance of healthcare facilities, particularly in the public sector, slowly deteriorating the quality of healthcare provision over time. These challenges undermine the foreign investment efforts and need to be addressed to continue to attract healthcare investment to Nigeria.
- Samuel Jekeli,
Centre for Social Justice, Abuja.