Aga Khan University Hospital Seeks African-Led Healthcare Solutions to Curb Medical Tourism

Bennett Oghifo

Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH,N), has called for a coordinated African-led strategy to tackle the continent’s healthcare challenges by strengthening health systems, improving quality of care, investing in specialist training, expanding clinical research and making access to advanced healthcare services easier within Africa.

The hospital made the call during a media roundtable in Lagos, where its Chief Operating Officer, Khurram Jamal, said Africa possesses the expertise, human capital and resources needed to build healthcare systems capable of earning the confidence of patients and significantly reducing the growing dependence on medical treatment outside the continent.

According to him, Africa continues to lose billions of dollars annually to outbound medical tourism, a trend that weakens local health systems and diverts much-needed investment away from the continent.

Jamal disclosed that an estimated $7 billion leaves Africa every year as patients seek treatment abroad, with more than 300,000 Africans travelling to India alone for specialist healthcare. He noted that the exodus is fuelled by inadequate specialist services, inconsistent quality standards, fragmented referral systems and the widespread perception that superior healthcare can only be accessed outside Africa.

He stressed that reversing the trend would require deliberate investments in quality healthcare delivery, skilled professionals, research and stronger regional partnerships.

“True shared prosperity means building health systems that Africans can trust, access and rely on right here at home,” Jamal said.

He added that Africa must retain both its patients and healthcare investments by developing institutions capable of delivering globally benchmarked services.

Speaking on the importance of quality healthcare, Jamal said confidence in African hospitals could only be restored through internationally recognised standards, patient safety and continuous improvement in service delivery.

He explained that Aga Khan University Hospital had invested substantially in internationally accredited systems, advanced clinical technologies and globally accepted healthcare practices designed to improve patient outcomes.

According to him, the hospital became the first in the East African region to attain Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation and has consistently maintained the certification through periodic reaccreditation. It has also secured internationally recognised certifications covering pathology, laboratory medicine as well as specialised cardiac and stroke care.

Jamal argued that patients cannot be persuaded to remain in Africa solely on patriotic grounds, insisting that healthcare providers must earn public confidence by consistently delivering world-class medical services.

He described accreditation as more than a symbol of excellence, noting that it provides practical frameworks for standardising care, improving patient safety and ensuring healthcare professionals adhere to globally accepted clinical standards.

On the challenge of healthcare manpower, Jamal observed that Africa continues to face a critical shortage of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.

Citing World Health Organisation figures, he said at least 4.45 doctors, nurses and midwives are required for every 1,000 people to provide adequate healthcare services. However, Africa currently has only about 1.5 health workers per 1,000 population.

He also lamented the persistent migration of African doctors who travel overseas for specialist training but fail to return, further widening the continent’s healthcare workforce deficit.

Jamal emphasised that governments and healthcare institutions must invest as much in developing human capacity as they do in constructing hospitals and purchasing sophisticated medical equipment.

“A building cannot heal a patient. A state-of-the-art operating theatre is simply an expensive room without a trained specialist inside it,” he said.

He noted that while infrastructure can be completed within months, producing highly trained specialists often requires more than a decade, making sustained investment in education and training indispensable.

To bridge the skills gap, he said Aga Khan University Hospital has developed one of the region’s leading teaching hospitals, offering undergraduate medical and nursing education, residency programmes and multiple clinical fellowships that are helping produce the next generation of African specialists.

The hospital currently employs about 200 full-time specialists who combine clinical practice with teaching and research, while operating 16 clinical fellowship programmes and residency training across nine medical specialties.

Jamal also underscored the importance of expanding African-led medical research, noting that although Africa accounts for about 17 per cent of the global population and carries approximately 25 per cent of the world’s disease burden, it contributes only about four per cent of global clinical trials.

He maintained that Africa should not merely consume medical knowledge generated elsewhere but should actively produce research tailored to the continent’s unique health challenges.

To support this objective, the hospital has invested in modern clinical research infrastructure and digital health systems, including a comprehensive Electronic Health Record platform that supports patient care, medical education and research.

Since establishing its Clinical Research Unit in 2020, the hospital has participated in 17 clinical research projects and trials, three of which contributed to therapies now approved for use in Kenya.

Recognising that specialist healthcare services remain unevenly distributed across Africa, Jamal said the hospital has partnered Kenya Airways to simplify medical travel within the continent.

The initiative combines the airline’s network of 34 African destinations with the hospital’s specialist services, offering coordinated referrals, teleconsultations before travel, subsidised airfares, airport transfers, accommodation support, hospital navigation and post-treatment follow-up after patients return home.

He said the partnership creates a seamless medical travel pathway that allows patients to concentrate on recovery rather than logistics.

Jamal concluded that reducing Africa’s dependence on overseas medical treatment would require sustained collaboration among governments, healthcare providers, airlines, regulators and policymakers.

He expressed confidence that with stronger investments in quality healthcare, skilled professionals, research and regional partnerships, Africa could retain its patients, healthcare talent and financial resources while building resilient health systems capable of meeting the continent’s growing healthcare needs.