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Towards Rising Medical Tourism in West Africa: A Review of Ghana’s Readiness to Become a Hub

Silas Udia OsabuteyMarch 22, 2026
Towards Rising Medical Tourism in West Africa: A Review of Ghana’s Readiness to Become a Hub

The article argues that Ghana is strategically positioning itself to become West Africa’s leading medical tourism hub through targeted investments in specialised healthcare infrastructure, teaching hospitals, and cross-border care systems. It concludes that Ghana’s long-term success will depend on a cohesive legal and regulatory framework that ensures patient safety, ethical practice, accreditation, telemedicine governance, and sustainable healthcare financing.

Abstract

Medical tourism has become a crucial element of health sector advancement in West Africa, with Ghana progressively establishing itself as a regional hub. This review article analyses Ghana's intentional initiatives to draw medical tourists by investments in healthcare infrastructure, public-private partnerships, specialised facilities, and regulatory reforms. It examines policy initiatives, accreditation requirements, health financing structures, and cross-border patient mobility within West Africa. The review further examines the sufficiency of Ghana’s legal and institutional framework in guaranteeing quality, patient safety, and ethical practice in the quest to provide healthcare services for those who seek them. The findings suggest that although Ghana exhibits comparative advantages, a cohesive regulatory and governance framework is crucial for sustained development in becoming a key medical tourism hub for the West African sub-region, while mitigating the associated risks. This review article aims to serve as a significant resource for policymakers, healthcare professionals, and researchers in understanding and addressing the complex dynamics of medical tourism in emerging hubs, such as Ghana. To identify studies, the Scopus, PubMed databases, and Google Scholar were searched using a systematic review methodology.

Keywords: Medical tourism; Ghana; West Africa; health regulation; cross-border healthcare; health governance; ECOWAS.

Introduction

Medical or health tourism is a structured and planned journey away from one's residence or country of nationality and crossing international borders for medical treatment to preserve, enhance, or rehabilitate an individual's mental and physical well-being. The journey is mainly motivated by access to sophisticated medical technologies, reduced cost and waiting periods, and access to specialist care. Medical tourism has the potential to transform healthcare by enabling patients to access superior, specialist, advanced, and cost-effective therapies while also enhancing local economies. Currently, medical and health tourism has evolved into a profitable and competitive sector, prompting countries to enter the sector and to implement the requisite interventions and systems, and to capitalise on the increasing demand for wellness and wellbeing, thereby enabling them to achieve substantial economic and social benefits.[1]

As medical tourism expands across different regions of the world, there is a high requirement for the maintenance of its sustainability and the use of technological breakthroughs to improve patient care and outcomes by balancing the medical needs of international medical tourists with the preservation of local healthcare systems.[2] Several studies have consistently examined matters pertaining to medical tourism destinations, healthcare facilities, technological development, quality of care, real stakeholders, surgical procedures, economics, ethics, and policy formulation and enforcement, which have enabled policymakers, globally, to seek to create a universal medical tourism framework to support all participants and stakeholders in the sector in order to avoid exploitation and predatory services.[3] 

A study conducted between 2015 and 2023, including in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, indicated that West Africa, without national and regional medical tourism policies, confronts a cruel healthcare paradox as its rich inhabitants increasingly pursue medical therapies abroad, while leaving the healthcare systems intended to serve the majority of its citizens to deteriorate. The study quantifies the extensive magnitude and ramifications of this dilemma, indicating that more than 150,000 West Africans journey to India (45 %), the UAE (30 %), and European centres (25 %) for intricate cancer (32 %), cardiology (28 %), and orthopaedic (20 %) treatments. This outflow depletes approximately 1 billion USD each year from regional economies, equivalent to financing approximately 40,000 nurses or constructing 500 rural clinics.[4]

In addition to wealthy private residents of West Africa pursuing medical treatment overseas, numerous political leaders, high-ranking public officials, and affluent, politically connected individuals favour obtaining healthcare in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Canada, the United States, India, Singapore, and similar countries.[5] It is important that a Western African country positions itself through improved infrastructure, expertise training of its health workers and caregivers, advances its medical technologies, and puts cost and exploitation in check through regulation and enforcement, to intervene in the current medical tourism situation and retain the funds outflows in the West African sub-region for the development of infrastructure and healthcare systems and personnel.  Ghana appears to be the country in West Africa that is positioning itself to be a central attraction for medical tourists in the region.

Therefore, this review article analyses Ghana's intentional initiatives to draw medical tourists by investments in healthcare infrastructure, public-private partnerships, specialised facilities, and regulatory reforms, while indicating that the medical and healthcare tourism industry represents a novel and very promising service within the tourism sector and it can yield substantial economic and social advantages, influencing economic factors such as employment generation, healthcare infrastructure, and foreign investment in developing hubs like Ghana.[6] 

Medical Tourism Dynamics in West Africa

West Africa is a vast region characterized by a profound history, stunning landscapes, hospitable inhabitants, diverse terrain, remarkable biodiversity, a rich ecological system, great historical significance, and a varied cultural heritage. It is renowned for its two prominent features: the Sahara Desert and the Niger River. The region comprises fifteen (15) countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, all endowed with diverse yet underutilised potentials.[7]

The West African sub-region, with a population of approximately 475 million inhabitants,[8] confronts a cruel healthcare dilemma, as its inhabitants increasingly pursue life-saving therapies abroad while the systems intended to serve the general populace in their countries deteriorate. Initially, there exists what has been characterised as a financial catastrophe alongside a concurrent crisis of institutional distrust and the deterioration of clinical competence within the health sector of the sub-region. Compelling data suggest that retaining 50% of these patients within a decade is achievable through planned, high-impact interventions that target specific deficiencies in advanced care infrastructure and expert access that prompt overseas referrals.[9]

In Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest economy,[10] for example, a paradox exists where elites expend over $500 million annually on offshore healthcare, yet local public hospitals are in a deplorable state and frequently lack essential medicine, highlighting a systemic issue that undermines West Africa's health sovereignty.[11]

West Africa is experiencing significant financial losses due to medical tourism, while regional blocs such as Southeast Asia are drawing substantial investments, emerging as burgeoning economic powerhouses where medical tourism activities have significantly contributed to their socio-economic progress. Southeast Asia has made intentional efforts in strengthening the foundations of medical tourism, enhancing the factors that influence medical tourism visits, markedly improving the quality of medical and healthcare services, and amplifying the impact of medical tourism on national economic growth. As a result of these efforts, the medical tourism market in Southeast Asia was projected to expand by USD 131.35 billion by the end of 2025, with a consistent anticipated annual growth rate of 20%.[12] 

Similar to the above projections, the Medical Tourism Magazine has characterised medical tourism globally as the most rapidly expanding industry in 2025, with forecasts indicating substantial growth propelled by the demand for affordable, high-quality care, influenced by trends such as telemedicine, personalised medicine (genomics), and wellness retreats, with India, Thailand, Singapore, and Turkey identified as leading destinations with exponential expansion, projected to reach 100 billion USD globally.[13]

The current situation in West Africa is that while other regions globally are reaping substantial economic advantages from the inbound flow of funds through catering to the needs of medical tourists, West Africa is mainly experiencing a financial exodus, resulting in both economic and social losses for the sub-region. Given that global medical tourism is projected to generate billions of dollars, Ghana has the potential to achieve a comparable success in West Africa and bolster its economy, akin to countries such as the UAE, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Turkey, and Qatar, which are reaping substantial financial benefits from well-organised medical tourism initiatives.[14] It is essential to analyse Ghana's deliberate efforts to attract medical tourists through investments in healthcare infrastructure, public-private partnerships, specialised facilities, regulatory reforms, policy initiatives, accreditation standards, health financing mechanisms, and cross-border patient mobility within West Africa.

Ghana’s Investments in Healthcare Infrastructure - Specialised Facilities 

In recent years, Ghana has markedly augmented investments in healthcare infrastructure, especially in specialised institutions crucial to its aspiration of becoming a medical tourism powerhouse in West Africa. The government's GHC 2 billion infrastructure investment plan (2025–2028) encompasses financing for sophisticated healthcare initiatives, including the Urology and Nephrology Centre of Excellence at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and new training facilities at prominent teaching hospitals, illustrating the state's dedication to enhancing both clinical and educational capabilities.[15]

In addition to governmental support, prominent teaching hospitals such as the Ho Teaching Hospital are augmenting specialised services (e.g., neurology, oncology, endoscopy, sophisticated imaging) and creating sections focused on coordinating medical tourism, thereby enhancing their capacity to attract international patients.[16] Moreover, strategic regional healthcare initiatives like Agenda 111 seek to construct and enhance a network of district and regional hospitals featuring specialised units for orthopaedics, cardiovascular care, and infectious diseases, thereby establishing a more comprehensive and appealing clinical ecosystem.[17]

The Bank Hospital, the University of Ghana Medical Centre, and the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have established proven capabilities in transplant surgeries, including kidney, lung, liver, pancreas, and heart procedures, thereby possessing adequate infrastructure and personnel expertise to manage complex organ transplant cases. This integration of focused infrastructure advancement and specialist service proliferation exemplifies Ghana's overarching policy direction aimed at improving healthcare quality and preparedness for cross-border patients.[18]

The infrastructure improvements, which enhance specialist care capacity and service quality, collectively indicate Ghana's strategic objective to be the West African regional hub in the African and global medical tourism market. Nonetheless, physical infrastructure alone is inadequate to ensure sustainability, safety, and international trust in cross-border healthcare provision. There is a requirement for a thorough commitment to regulatory and enforcement reforms, encompassing policy efforts, certification standards, protections against organ trafficking, and sustainable finance mechanisms for healthcare infrastructure and financing.

A Need for Regulatory Reforms  

Utilising the American Medical Association (AMA) Ethical Guidance on Medical Tourism as a normative standard underscores essential regulatory reform that Ghana may undertake to morally and successfully establish itself as a medical tourism centre. The AMA’s Medical Tourism opinion highlights that although cross-border healthcare may be advantageous, it presents considerable issues regarding patient safety, continuity of care, and informed decision-making. It stresses the necessity for stringent oversight of all participants in medical tourism to safeguard patient interests and ensure high-quality care.[19] This guidance recommends that regulatory frameworks enforce transparent informed consent procedures, guarantee access to comprehensive clinical records, and stipulate that referrals be made solely to accredited institutions that adhere to internationally recognised standards and principles, pertinent to a country’s policy formulation, for international patients.[20]

Furthermore, the AMA promotes the gathering of outcomes data and the education of healthcare professionals regarding the ethical and clinical ramifications of medical tourism, which can guide evidence-based policymaking and enhance trust in a country's healthcare system among international patients.[21] From an ethical governance standpoint, AMA's focus on quality oversight aligns with global standards opposing exploitation and hazardous practices, especially in high-risk domains like transplantation. The AMA guidance emphasises physician responsibilities and continuity of care; however, comprehensive regulatory reforms must include protections against organ trafficking and unethical practices, in accordance with international declarations such as the Declaration of Istanbul, which unequivocally condemns organ trafficking and transplant tourism as unethical. 

Ghana's regulatory and policy initiatives may emulate the AMA Ethical Guidance on Medical Tourism, incorporate explicit accreditation criteria for facilities, ensure adherence to international quality standards, and integrate anti-trafficking measures into health legislation to safeguard both domestic and international patients. Moreover, financing strategies, including specific incentives for quality enhancement, public–private collaborations, and transparent pricing regulations, ought to bolster sustainable infrastructure and regulatory compliance, ensuring that Ghana's development as a medical tourism hub is both ethically sound and competitive within the West African landscape, particularly, and the world, generally.

Cross-Border Patient Mobility Within West Africa  

The strategic adoption and deployment of telemedicine by Ghana may greatly boost cross-border patient mobility within West Africa, particularly in relation to Ghana's medical tourism readiness agenda. Telemedicine, characterised by the utilisation of telecommunications technology to provide healthcare services remotely, can mitigate geographical and economic hurdles that usually limit access to expert treatment across national boundaries. This skill is particularly relevant in West Africa, where the unequal distribution of specialised services and infrastructure frequently necessitates that patients travel considerable distances or even outside the region for advanced treatment. Research indicates that telemedicine has been increasingly utilised in some sub-Saharan African countries, such as South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, and Rwanda, to enhance timely healthcare delivery, expand access to specialist consultations, and alleviate referral bottlenecks, suggesting its potential to enable cross-border healthcare interactions if adequately scaled and supported by policy and infrastructure investments.[22]

Telemedicine facilitates pre-trip consultations, remote diagnostics, and follow-up care, allowing prospective medical tourists from adjacent countries to interact with Ghanaian physicians early in their healthcare journey, hence enabling more informed decisions and minimising avoidable travel expenses and delays.[23]

It is therefore very necessary to significantly improve cross-border patient mobility in West Africa through telemedicine, coordinated regional frameworks, and effective implementation strategies. Research on telemedicine adoption in the region underscores enduring obstacles, such as inadequate ICT infrastructure, inconsistent power and internet connectivity, and the lack of definitive legal and regulatory frameworks, which may hinder acceptance by both providers and patients.[24]

To tackle these burgeoning systemic challenges, it is essential to implement coordinated policy strategies among designated medical tourist hospitals and medical centres in Ghana that promote interoperability of digital health systems, safeguard patient privacy and data security, and create reimbursement and personnel and institutional licensing, as well as patient registration and visa acquisition frameworks for cross-border health services. Therefore, incorporating telemedicine into Ghana’s medical tourism framework may greatly enhance continuity of care for international patients and promote regional cooperation in healthcare provision, potentially establishing Ghana as a digital centre that draws patients from West Africa seeking quality, affordable, and accessible specialised care, an essential aim of the medical tourism initiative.[25]

Conclusion

This review illustrates that Ghana has made intentional and praiseworthy advancements in establishing itself as a medical tourism centre in West Africa through focused investments in healthcare infrastructure, the enhancement of specialised facilities, strategic public-private partnerships, and evolving, unified, transparent, and enforceable regulatory and governance framework reforms in healthcare financing, particularly concerning accreditation, patient safety, ethical practice, cross-border care continuity, even though rising threats like organ trafficking remains crucial. These measures, aligned with international ethical norms and responsive to regional mobility dynamics, taken together highlight a distinct governmental objective: attracting international patients while improving domestic healthcare capacity. Ghana's political stability, established teaching hospitals, expanding specialist services, and enhanced health finance arrangements confer a competitive advantage within the sub-region, especially given the uneven access to sophisticated medical treatment across ECOWAS states.

Enhancing regulatory oversight, standardising rules to facilitate cross-border patient movement, and adopting digital health technologies such as telemedicine may be essential to reducing risks while bolstering trust and competitiveness. Ultimately, Ghana's success as a medical tourism hub may hinge not only on its clinical capabilities but also on its capability to reconcile commercial opportunities with ethical obligations and strong governance, providing significant insights for other burgeoning medical tourism locales in West Africa.

References

  1. Hosseini, F. and Mirzaei, A., 2021. A survey of perspectives and factors in the Development of Medical Tourism in the Middle East.
  2. Singh, B., Kaunert, C. and Jermsittiparsert, K., 2025. Advocating medical tourism and healthcare in global health market places: promoting sustainability and technological advancements. In AI Technologies and Advancements for Psychological Well-Being and Healthcare (pp. 327-350). IGI Global.
  3. Ediansyah, Arief, M., Hamsal, M. and Abdinagoro, S.B., 2023. A decade of medical tourism research: Looking back to moving forward. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 6(5), pp.2158-2172.
  4. Dzreke, S.S., Dzreke, S.E., Dzreke, E., Dzreke, F.M. and Dzreke, C., The $1 B exodus: Medical tourism’s fiscal hemorrhage in West Africa (2015–2023).
  5. Dibie, R., Challenges of Medical Tourism In Africa. Transforming Healthcare in Africa, p.359.
  6. Worung, I.M., 2024, December. The Economic Impact of Medical Tourism on Emerging Markets: Opportunities and Challenges: Literature Review. In Proceedings of International Conference on Economic Issues (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 596-615).
  7. Lawal, Y.O., 2025. Harnessing Tourism Potentials of West African States (ECOWAS) in Advancing the Promotion of Tourism. FUO-Journal of Educational Research, 5(1), pp.84-93.
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  9. Dzreke, S.S., Dzreke, S.E., Dzreke, E., Dzreke, F.M. and Dzreke, C., The $1 B exodus: Medical tourism’s fiscal hemorrhage in West Africa (2015–2023).
  10. Terwase, I.T., Abdul-Talib, A.N. and Zengeni, K.T., 2014. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy: International business perspective. International Journal of Management Sciences, 3(7), pp.534-543.
  11. Dzreke, S.S., Dzreke, S.E., Dzreke, E. and Dzreke, C., 2025. HVI> 85: How Clinical-Visibility Integration Reduces Mortality by 14% While Saving $12 M Annually–A Framework Transforming Supply Chains into Clinical Force Multipliers.
  12. Fauzi, M.A., Mohd Aripin, N., Alimin, N.S.N., Ting, I.W.K., Wider, W., Maidin, S.S. and Zainul Abideen, A., 2024. Medical tourism in South East Asia: science mapping of present and future trends. Asian Education and Development Studies, 13(5), pp.393-411.
  13. Medical Tourism Magazine 2025. Medical Tourism Industry Valued at $100B Poised for 25% Year-Over-Year Growth by 2025. Available at: https://www.magazine.medicaltourism.com/article/medical-tourism-industry-valued-at-439b-poised-for-25-year-over-year-growth-by-2025 (accessed on 31 December 2025).
  14. Ministry of Finance 2025. Gov’t Reaffirms Commitment to Healthcare with GH¢2 Billion Infrastructure Investment. Available at: https://mofep.gov.gh/news-and-events/2025-04-10/govt-reaffirms-commitment-to-healthcare-with-ghc2-billion-infrastructure-investment (accessed on 18 January 2026).
  15. MyJoy Online 2025. Ho Teaching Hospital set sights on Medical Tourism. Available at: https://www.myjoyonline.com/ho-teaching-hospital-set-sights-on-medical-tourism (accessed on 12 April 2025).
  16. Modern Ghana 2021. Agenda 111 hospitals: My vision is to make Ghana West Africa’s Medical Hub by 2030 — Akufo-Addo. Available at: https://www.modernghana.com/news/1098722/agenda-111-hospitals-my-vision-is-to-make-ghana.html (accessed on 24 December 2025).
  17. Graphic Online 2025. Expanding Ghana’s healthcare market: Rise of medical tourism. Available at: https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/opinion/ghana-news-expanding-ghanas-healthcare-market-rise-of-medical-tourism.html (accessed on 30 April 2025).
  18. American Medical Association 2020. AMA Principles of Medical Ethics. Available at: https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ama-principles-medical-ethics (accessed on 17 December 2025).
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  20. AMA Code of Medical Ethics 2022. Medical Tourism. Available at: https://code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org/sites/amacoedb/files/2022-08/1.2.13.pdf (accessed on 13 December 2025).
  21. Dodoo, J.E., Al-Samarraie, H. and Alzahrani, A.I., 2021. Telemedicine use in Sub-Saharan Africa: Barriers and policy recommendations for Covid-19 and beyond. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 151, p.104467.
  22. Al Khatib, I., Ndiaye, M. and Ahmed, N., 2023, October. Medical Tourism: the use of telemedicine for international patient continuity of care–a review. In 2023 IEEE International Conference on Technology and Entrepreneurship (ICTE) (pp. 148-153). IEEE.
  23. Dodoo, J.E., Al-Samarraie, H. and Alzahrani, A.I., 2021. Telemedicine use in Sub-Saharan Africa: Barriers and policy recommendations for Covid-19 and beyond. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 151, p.104467.
  24. Gu, D., Humbatova, G., Xie, Y., Yang, X., Zolotarev, O. and Zhang, G., 2021, August. Different roles of telehealth and telemedicine on medical tourism: an empirical study from Azerbaijan. In Healthcare (Vol. 9, No. 8, p. 1073). MDPI.

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[1] Hosseini et al. 2021, p.1.

[2] Singh et al. 2025, pp. 327-329.

[3] Ediansyah et al. 2023, p.2158.

[4] Dzreke et al. 2015–2023, p1.

[5] Dibie 2025, p.359.

[6] Worung 2024, pp. 596-600.

[7] Lawal 2025, p.84.

[8]Worldometer 2025, West African Population, available at: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/western-africa-population/#google_vignette (accessed on 12 December 2025).

[9] Dzreke et al. 2015–2023, p. 1–5.

[10] Terwase et al. 2014, p.534.

[11] Dzreke et al. 2025, p. 6.

[12] Fauzi et al. 2024, p.393-411.

[13] Medical Tourism Magazine 2025. Medical Tourism Industry Valued at $100B Poised for 25% Year-Over-Year Growth by 2025. Available at: https://www.magazine.medicaltourism.com/article/medical-tourism-industry-valued-at-439b-poised-for-25-year-over-year-growth-by-2025 (accessed on 31 December 2025).

[14] ibid

[15] Ministry of Finance 2025. Gov’t Reaffirms Commitment to Healthcare with GH¢2 Billion Infrastructure Investment. Available at: https://mofep.gov.gh/news-and-events/2025-04-10/govt-reaffirms-commitment-to-healthcare-with-ghc2-billion-infrastructure-investment (accessed on 18 January 2026).

[16] MyJoy Online 2025. Ho Teaching Hospital set sights on Medical Tourism. Available at: https://www.myjoyonline.com/ho-teaching-hospital-set-sights-on-medical-tourism (accessed on 12 April 2025).

[17] Modern Ghana 2021. Agenda 111 hospitals: My vision is to make Ghana West Africa’s Medical Hub by 2030 — Akufo-Addo. Available at: https://www.modernghana.com/news/1098722/agenda-111-hospitals-my-vision-is-to-make-ghana.html (accessed on 24 December 2025).

[18] Graphic Online 2025. Expanding Ghana’s healthcare market: Rise of medical tourism. Available at: https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/opinion/ghana-news-expanding-ghanas-healthcare-market-rise-of-medical-tourism.html (accessed on 30 April 2025).

[19] American Medical Association 2020. AMA Principles of Medical Ethics. Available at: https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ama-principles-medical-ethics (accessed on 17 December 2025).

[20] Medical Tourism Magazine 2025. New AMA Guidelines on Medical Tourism. Available at: https://www.magazine.medicaltourism.com/article/new-ama-guidelines-on-medical-tourism (accessed on 12 November 2025).

[21]AMA Code of Medical Ethics 2022. Medical Tourism. Available at: https://code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org/sites/amacoedb/files/2022-08/1.2.13.pdf (accessed on 13 December 2025).

[22] Dodoo et al. 2021, p.104467.

[23] Al Khatib et al. 2023 p. 148.

[24] Dodoo et al. 2021, p.104467.

[25] Gu et al. 2021, p. 1073.