The African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) would help Nigeria retain the billions of dollars lost annually to outbound medical tourism and also provide care for diseases in Nigeria and the continent, Prof. Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, has said.
He stated this Thursday in Abuja during the commissioning and grand opening of the hospital.
AMCE is a 500-bed medical health facility developed by the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in partnership with King’s College Hospital, London (KCH).
The construction of the medical centre commenced in Apo-Kabusa, Abuja, in 2021.
Oramah said his personal experience inspired him to set up a world class facility that would increase access to quality care on the continent.
He said the hospital will lead in providing solutions to the Africa’s healthcare problems, such as the challenge of inadequate healthcare infrastructure and diagnostics facilities, the billions of US dollars being expended in outbound medical tourism and the very limited research on diseases of interest to people of African descent.
While saying that AMCE will drive renewed emphasis on research in diseases of health interest to people of African descent, he said many diseases affect Africans, for which there are no affordable cures because no investments are channelled into researching them.
He said the centre will focus on diagnosis and comprehensive treatment of cancers, blood disorders and heart diseases.
“An example is sickle cell anaemia, which affects 2 to 3 percent of Nigerians and about 15 million African people. It is our collective responsibility to begin to reverse this menace,” he stated.
He said investments in the facility is expected to reach just under $1 billion, of which $300 million have already been made and another $150 million is under way.
He said,” And because we expect the AMCE to serve as a major domestic and international medical tourism destination projected to attract over 350,000 patients over the next five years, we have commenced the development of long stay residential accommodation and doctors’ clinics within this campus at a cost of about $150 million. In addition, we have also commenced steps to establish a medical and nursing school, in partnership with King’s College London, to be the first ever campus of the College of Medicine and Nursing, of King’s College London, in Africa. “
He further said that the Afreximbank has launched the Africa Life Sciences Foundation to act as the vehicle for mobilising appropriate risk capital to drive the research efforts.
He said the bank has seeded the vehicle with a grant funding of $75 million , with a target to raise an additional $525 million dollars over the near term.
“At the core of this initiative is the establishment of an Endowment Fund, which will raise and manage donations and grants from global partners to support research, training and clinical access by indigent patients,” he added.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the African Medical Centre of Excellence, Abuja, will be a game changer in Nigeria’s healthcare system as well as the rest of Africa.
Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the president said the facility could not have come at a better time, adding that he was proud that Nigeria now hosts the largest stem cell laboratory in West Africa, located within the centre.
He said, “With your planned medical and nursing school on this campus, and with partners ranging from King’s College London to the University of Wisconsin, you are laying the foundation for a new generation of African medical specialists–specialists who will no longer be exported but empowered at home”.
He said that the pace the hospital set shall serve as a template for those who truly seek excellence in their service delivery, even beyond the health sector.
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He said, ” it will benefit from the investments and reforms we have championed, and it is also a reminder that the ultimate measure of a functional nation is the synergy between the government and private sector players to co-create solutions.”
He added that the government will continue to support the initiative–not as charity, but as strategy.
Brian Deaver, CEO of AMCE said the facility will be where patients meet a new standard of care–one defined not by borders, but by excellence.
He thanked Afreximbank for not only financing the project, but for believing that Africa deserves not just good, but great healthcare.
“We thank Kings College Hospital London for their clinical leadership and training partnership, and We thank the Federal Government of Nigeria for its unwavering support throughout this journey,” he said.
