The Federal Government is set to reverse the trend of medical tourism in the country may upgrade health facilities to international standard and hopefully, lure doctors in diaspora back home.
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma said this Tuesday during an interactive session with civil society organisations in Abuja.
According to the minister, government is planning a N9 billion investment in upgrade of hospitals to international standards.
“What the ministry of health is doing is going into partnership with the private sector and tertiary institutions, with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority.
“The idea is to upgrade a number of hospitals by getting first class facilities to have the best practice.
“We have some of the best doctors everywhere in the world; so, apart from the local ones, we want to entice some doctors in the diaspora to also come back.
“One of the constraints they keep on telling us when we tell them to return is that the facilities are not good enough; so we want to upgrade the facilities so that they can come back,” Udoma said.
The interactive session which held under the auspices of ‘The Situation Room’, was convened by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC).
