Ghana is positioning the proposed Medical City project in Ada as a major healthcare investment hub capable of reducing outbound medical tourism and retaining foreign exchange within the country.
The initiative, being developed by Africa’s Brain Bank Global, has received the backing of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) as part of efforts to link healthcare development with tourism, investment and economic growth.
The partnership forms part of the organisation’s Seventh Annual Summit, Charity Ball and Medical City groundbreaking ceremony, which is being held in Accra and Ada from September 3 to 8, 2026.
Held under the theme, “Africa’s Greatest Wealth, Its People; Restoring Africa’s Health Capital,” the six-day programme is bringing together healthcare professionals, investors, government officials, corporate leaders and members of the African Diaspora.
The programme is seeking to create opportunities for investment in healthcare infrastructure, medical education, research and innovation while supporting the development of specialised and technology-enabled healthcare services.
Chief Executive Officer of the GTA, Mrs Maame Efua Houadjeto, said the partnership demonstrated the potential of tourism to drive investment beyond the traditional tourism sector.
She said the summit provided Ghana with an opportunity to showcase its investment potential to an international audience, particularly through projects capable of combining healthcare, tourism and economic development.
According to Mrs Houadjeto, the proposed Medical City could attract international patients, investors, healthcare professionals and members of the African Diaspora, strengthening Ghana’s position as a destination for medical tourism.
“The programme presents an opportunity to welcome the world to Ghana while demonstrating the transformative possibilities that emerge when tourism, healthcare, investment, and development work together,” she said.
She added that the project could generate employment, attract international investment and create stronger links between Ghana’s tourism industry and healthcare sector.
Ghanaian-American plastic surgeon Dr Michael Obeng, however, said the continent needed to go beyond relying on external investment and focus on greater African ownership of healthcare infrastructure and investments.
He argued that Africa had the human resources and capital required to transform its healthcare systems but lacked effective structures to channel those resources into productive investments.
“Africa does not have a brain drain problem. Africa has a capital allocation problem that expresses itself as a brain drain,” he said.
Dr Obeng said Africa continued to lose doctors, nurses, pharmacists, biomedical engineers and scientists because of inadequate infrastructure and limited investment opportunities.
He further noted that Africa produced only about three per cent of global pharmaceutical products while importing between 70 and 80 per cent of the medicines it consumed, leaving the continent vulnerable during global health emergencies.
He also highlighted the financial implications of outbound medical tourism, noting that more than 300,000 Africans travel to India annually for medical treatment.
According to him, developing facilities such as the proposed Medical City in Ada could help reverse that trend by keeping patients, specialists and healthcare-related spending within the continent.
He said the project could reduce the number of Ghanaians and other Africans seeking specialised treatment abroad, create employment for healthcare professionals and help retain foreign exchange in Ghana.
Dr Obeng stressed that sustainable healthcare transformation would require stronger African ownership of health infrastructure, investments and human capital.
The Visionary, Chief Executive Officer and Group Chair of Africa’s Brain Bank Global, Reverend Dr Pam Fomunung, described the GTA’s participation as an important endorsement of the Medical City project.
She said the proposed facility would go beyond providing healthcare infrastructure by creating opportunities in medical tourism, employment, professional training and investment.
Dr Fomunung said the Medical City would focus on specialised healthcare, medical education, professional training, advanced diagnostic and surgical systems, digital healthcare and telemedicine.
She added that the project would also provide a platform for deeper engagement with the African Diaspora and attract healthcare professionals and investors to Ghana.
According to her, collaboration with the GTA would help align the Medical City project with Ghana’s broader objective of developing tourism while attracting investment and strengthening the country’s healthcare sector.
