Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Friday said the apex bank had earmarked N200 billion to support the healthcare sector to drive the recovery of Nigeria’s economy.
Emefiele said this at the inauguration of Duchess International Hospital, the newly built 100-suite state-of-the-art health facility in Ikeja, Lagos.
“When we started COVID, CBN set aside N100 billion to support the healthcare sector.
“But upon rising 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.
The CBN governor expressed the bank’s commitment to continually support Nigerians in their businesses, calling on those abroad to come back home.
He said, “the monetary policy recognises that Nigeria parades some of the best in the world; we need to encourage everybody to come back home.
He called on more private sector operators to invest in medical facilities that would help reverse medical tourism as that would make the country not spend dollars abroad but create more dollars.
According to him, medical tourism put a huge strain Onuche country’s foreign reserves.
Emefiele, therefore, urged banks to lend to Nigerians and members of the private sector community to invest, stressing that they did not need to be medical doctors to own a medical facility.
The Vice-President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said the facility had all it needed to be the place of choice for medical tourists from other countries.
“We are at Duchess, which by standards and personnel is comparable to anywhere in the world,” said Osinbajo.
According to him, the facility will reverse medical tourism by delivering high standards of care using the most advanced technology.
“With investments like this seeking high-quality medical personnel, we can even reverse the trend of doctors leaving the country.
“The reasons for their leaving are obvious; better remuneration, better facilities,” continued Osinbajo.
“So the only way that we can ensure that people stay obviously is to reward their services and I think that this is a good way to start. If we can believe enough in our economy,” Osinbajo said.
He noted that the true cost of healthcare anywhere in the world was phenomenal, coupled with the depreciating currency.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other dignitaries who spoke at the event are: Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, among others.
NAN
