Authors :
Apiyanteide F; Digban K; Nwose EU
Volume/Issue :
Volume 8 - 2023, Issue 12 - December
Google Scholar :
http://tinyurl.com/mpumkyt3
Scribd :
http://tinyurl.com/yeywrnfj
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10639816
Abstract :
For a nation that seeks economic growth and
development including improvement in the health
outcomes of its population, it is a tragedy for medical
tourism to become a norm that is even supported by the
government. This study sought to assess the practice and
determinants of medical tourism in Nigeria. A cross
sectional survey design was employed for this study. This
was done through a questionnaire designed on Google
Sheet and was shared to participants who gave consent
across the nation. Our team pre-tested the questionnaire
and found it to be valid and reliable before it was
adopted for the study. The instrument has 19 items
divided into four sections – socio-demographics of
respondents, practice of medical tourism, determinants
of medical tourism and recommendation needed to make
Nigeria a hub for medical tourism. Six data collectors
from the six geopolitical zones of Nigerian were trained
on how to collect data from respondents after consent
was seek and obtained. The process of the data collection
including the pre-test took upto three months before the
target population for the study was actualized. The data
collected was download into Excel Sheet and thereafter
reviewed, thematically transcribed before using SPSS
windows version 26 to analyzed and obtain descriptive
and inferential statistics for the study. The result
revealed that a total of 440 respondents across the six
geopolitical zones in Nigeria participated in the study.
The mean age was 38.7±4.5 with a male to female ratio of
1.4:1. 43(9.8%) of the respondents have gone for
treatment abroad, 383(87.0%) have not and 13(3.0%)
did not respond to the question. Among those that went
for medical tourism, 5(11.6%) experienced a
complication, 20(46.5%) had a successful experience,
15(34.9%) had a very successful experience while
3(7.0%) did not respond. The drivers of medical tourism
in our study are 107(46.1%) was due to high quality of
care provided at the destination country, 81(34.9%) was
due to the availability of experts using current
innovations in medicine in the destination country,
23(9.9%) was personal undisclosed reasons, 7(3.0%) was
because it was sponsored by Government/Donor,
7(3.0%) was due to a tourist package, 3(1.3%) low cost
of care, 2(0.5%) was due to the presence of health
insurance, 1 (0.3%) was as a result of availability of
adequate information and marketing of services they
provide, and 1(0.3%) was due to poor attitude of
healthcare workers in Nigeria. The common conditions
Nigerians seek abroad are: 13(34.2%) routine medical
check-up, 4(10.5%) was due to heart condition, 3(7.9%)
due to breast and prostate cancer, 2(5.3%) due to
Childbirth, 1(2.6%) due to appendix, 1(2.6%) due to
ulcer, 1(2.6%) due to fracture, 1(2.6%) due to kidney
failure while 12(31.6%) due to undisclosed (other)
reasons. At 95% Confidence Interval (CI), Difference
(Df = 8), Chi-square (X2
) = 23.978, P = 0.0023, there was
a statistically significant relationship between practice of
medical tourism and wealth quintile of participants. The
impact of medical tourism to Nigeria is enormous and
therefore calls for a collective effort from all
stakeholders to address this menace.
Keywords :
Medical Tourism, Government, Medical Care and Treatment, Abroad.
For a nation that seeks economic growth and
development including improvement in the health
outcomes of its population, it is a tragedy for medical
tourism to become a norm that is even supported by the
government. This study sought to assess the practice and
determinants of medical tourism in Nigeria. A cross
sectional survey design was employed for this study. This
was done through a questionnaire designed on Google
Sheet and was shared to participants who gave consent
across the nation. Our team pre-tested the questionnaire
and found it to be valid and reliable before it was
adopted for the study. The instrument has 19 items
divided into four sections – socio-demographics of
respondents, practice of medical tourism, determinants
of medical tourism and recommendation needed to make
Nigeria a hub for medical tourism. Six data collectors
from the six geopolitical zones of Nigerian were trained
on how to collect data from respondents after consent
was seek and obtained. The process of the data collection
including the pre-test took upto three months before the
target population for the study was actualized. The data
collected was download into Excel Sheet and thereafter
reviewed, thematically transcribed before using SPSS
windows version 26 to analyzed and obtain descriptive
and inferential statistics for the study. The result
revealed that a total of 440 respondents across the six
geopolitical zones in Nigeria participated in the study.
The mean age was 38.7±4.5 with a male to female ratio of
1.4:1. 43(9.8%) of the respondents have gone for
treatment abroad, 383(87.0%) have not and 13(3.0%)
did not respond to the question. Among those that went
for medical tourism, 5(11.6%) experienced a
complication, 20(46.5%) had a successful experience,
15(34.9%) had a very successful experience while
3(7.0%) did not respond. The drivers of medical tourism
in our study are 107(46.1%) was due to high quality of
care provided at the destination country, 81(34.9%) was
due to the availability of experts using current
innovations in medicine in the destination country,
23(9.9%) was personal undisclosed reasons, 7(3.0%) was
because it was sponsored by Government/Donor,
7(3.0%) was due to a tourist package, 3(1.3%) low cost
of care, 2(0.5%) was due to the presence of health
insurance, 1 (0.3%) was as a result of availability of
adequate information and marketing of services they
provide, and 1(0.3%) was due to poor attitude of
healthcare workers in Nigeria. The common conditions
Nigerians seek abroad are: 13(34.2%) routine medical
check-up, 4(10.5%) was due to heart condition, 3(7.9%)
due to breast and prostate cancer, 2(5.3%) due to
Childbirth, 1(2.6%) due to appendix, 1(2.6%) due to
ulcer, 1(2.6%) due to fracture, 1(2.6%) due to kidney
failure while 12(31.6%) due to undisclosed (other)
reasons. At 95% Confidence Interval (CI), Difference
(Df = 8), Chi-square (X2
) = 23.978, P = 0.0023, there was
a statistically significant relationship between practice of
medical tourism and wealth quintile of participants. The
impact of medical tourism to Nigeria is enormous and
therefore calls for a collective effort from all
stakeholders to address this menace.
Keywords :
Medical Tourism, Government, Medical Care and Treatment, Abroad.
