A 500-bed capacity African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) Abuja is to commence operations next year.
The medical health facility, which is currently being developed by Afreximbank in partnership with King’s College Hospital, London (KCH) entails developing and operationalising a world-class multi-specialty 500-bed hospital facility to serve the entire African continent, focusing on three core non-communicable diseases of Oncology, Haematology and Cardiology, and general care capabilities.
Already, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is investing $40 million towards the construction of the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) Abuja hospital.
Afreximbank’s President, Professor Benedict Oramah who disclosed this at the AMCE African Health Forum 2024 in Abuja, observed that the AMCE facility will serve as a leading centre for research and development in medicine and clinical services, offer residency, training and observership placement programmes to physicians and medical students from Nigeria and other parts of Africa.
He explained that when operational, the facility will tackle the rising burden of non-communicable diseases, capital flight and brain drain of qualified medical personnel, yielding the following benefits to Africa and would create approximately 3,000 jobs during its construction and operational phases.
According to him, the facility will provide prompt, lifesaving detection and management of serious diseases delivered to over 200,000 patients in Nigeria and a further 150,000 patients from other African countries within its first five years of operation; and promote intra-regional trade in medical services and strengthen supply chains in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.
Oramah noted that the AMCE Abuja is being implemented in partnership with leading global institutions, namely Kings College Hospital, London, the University of Wisconsin Teaching Hospital, USA, and the Christies Hospital, Manchester.
He stated that to complement the AMCE Abuja and develop human resources in healthcare, Afreximbank has entered an arrangement with KCL to establish a Medical & Nursing School in Abuja to support the production of quality medical personnel in Africa adding that the platform will also be used to collaborate with other colleges of medicine in Nigeria and across Africa.
Also speaking, AFC President and CEO, Samaila Zubairu, lamented that Africa’s healthcare sector suffers a severe and alarming infrastructure gap and a shortage of qualified medical practitioners.
Zubairu emphasized the importance of the AMCE Abuja project as a flagship development with potentially transformative implications for African healthcare, both significantly reducing the need for outbound, extra-African medical tourism by providing world-class medical services on the continent and, by extension, stemming the tide of healthcare talent migration from Africa.
He noted that Government-owned health facilities are stretched to their limits due to inadequate capacity, leading to reliance on medical tourism and its associated burdens adding that hospitals across West Africa struggle with funding, lack of essential resources, and limited access in rural areas.
He said, “We are therefore pleased to partner alongside Afreximbank and King’s College Hospital, London, on this epoch-making project that will transform healthcare in Africa and contribute to a reversal in medical tourism. Building a world-class facility that captures medical spend in Africa, promotes specialist skills development, retains and, most importantly, attracts healthcare practitioners in our local communities, aligns well with AFC’s import substitution strategy and we look forward to working with all partners to establish the AMCE as a beacon of
medical excellence on the continent.”
Oramah who later had an audience with President Bola Tinubu at the State House, informed the president of the Bank’s initiatives and financing support to the country including the MoU signed between Afreximbank and the Federal Ministry of Health to support the development of Nigeria’s healthcare sector under the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking Healthcare Value Chains (PVAC) through a $1 billion Healthcare Value Chain Programme.
He lamented that for too long, Africa has watched its best and brightest medical minds migrate to Europe and America – but we are now poised to develop a domestic healthcare sector which can retain talent, eventually rivalling and even surpassing systems in other regions.”
President Tinubu in his response welcomed the significant step towards investing in Nigeria’s healthcare sector adding that the AMCE facility is a great commitment to humanity.
He said, “We are open and ready to assist this project in every way possible. Africa is in need, and Nigeria is committed to the needs of its people. Putting people’s welfare first is putting healthcare first. The training and development of our people are our priorities, and we thank Afreximbank and their partners for their ongoing support”.
