The rising inhabitants of Lagos, a metropolis of over 20 million individuals, continues to put monumental strain on some of the state’s vital infrastructure, significantly its healthcare system, the place hospitals and medical professionals are more and more stretched by the overwhelming quantity of sufferers in search of medical consideration.
The state, which stays on the centre of Nigeria’s healthcare challenges, has an estimated 7,385 medical doctors serving its rising inhabitants. Beyond the scarcity of medical personnel relative to its inhabitants, some hospitals additionally wrestle with insufficient infrastructure, together with one thing as elementary as mattress capability, which determines what number of sufferers may be admitted for medical remedy.
Yet, amid these challenges, a technology of medical practitioners, entrepreneurs and traders has constructed private healthcare establishments which have grown from modest clinics into multispecialty hospitals, some with tons of of beds and services unfold throughout totally different components of the state.
Behind these establishments are tales of ambition, skilled excellence and many years of funding. Some had been based by medical doctors who returned from practising overseas to determine their very own medical services, whereas others emerged from partnerships between healthcare professionals or investments by enterprise leaders who recognised the rising demand for private healthcare providers.
Today, these hospitals present specialist medical providers starting from cardiology and neurosurgery to kidney transplantation and intensive care.
Nairametrics examines some of Lagos’ largest private hospitals by reported mattress capability, highlighting the people and organisations behind their institution, possession and enlargement.
7) Awele Vivien Elumelu OFR – Avon Medical Practice (50 beds)
Dr Awele V. Elumelu, OFR, is one of these people whose various portfolio of achievements makes it extraordinarily tough, albeit thrilling, to outline her by a single skilled id.
A skilled medical physician, she earned her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) diploma from the University of Benin and has practised drugs in each Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
In 2013, she based Avon Medical, a 50-bed multispecialty healthcare facility in Lagos. That identical yr, she established Avon Healthcare Limited, a well being upkeep organisation (HMO) in Nigeria.
In recognition of her advocacy and contributions to healthcare, Dr Elumelu was appointed Private Sector Champion for Immunisation in Africa by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in 2018.
Her sustained contributions to Nigeria’s healthcare sector, coupled together with her dedication to entrepreneurship growth via the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which she co-founded together with her husband, billionaire businessman Tony Elumelu, earned her the nationwide honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2023.
In 2026, she acquired additional worldwide recognition when she was named a TIME100 Philanthropy honouree, becoming a member of the ranks of the world’s most influential philanthropists in recognition of her transformative contributions to philanthropy and entrepreneurship throughout Africa via the Foundation.
6) Dr. Moses Majekodunmi / CEO Dr. Dapo Majekodunmi – St. Nicholas Hospital (50 beds)
The story of St. Nicholas Hospital is one of medical excellence, public service and a household legacy that has endured for greater than seven many years.
Its founder, Dr Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi, born in Abeokuta in August 1916, studied at Trinity College Dublin, the place he earned {qualifications} in Anatomy, Physiology, Bacteriology and Clinical Medicine earlier than practising drugs in Ireland.
Returning to Nigeria in 1943, Majekodunmi joined the Federal Government Medical Services and later performed a major position in establishing the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
His profession prolonged past drugs into politics. He was elected to the Nigerian Senate in 1960 and appointed Sole Administrator of the Western Region in June 1962, following a political disaster involving Samuel Akintola and Obafemi Awolowo.
However, his contributions to private healthcare started earlier, in 1952, when he established a medical follow in a transformed residential constructing, which ultimately advanced into St. Nicholas Hospital, formally opened in March 1968.
More than 5 many years later, the establishment stays underneath the management of the Majekodunmi household, together with his son, Dr Dapo Majekodunmi, serving as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
According to its official web site, St. Nicholas Hospital has a 50-bed capability, with operations extending throughout a number of places in Lagos, together with Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Maryland and the Lekki Free Zone.
The hospital has additionally recorded vital milestones in specialist healthcare, significantly in nephrology, turning into one of Nigeria’s pioneering private hospitals in dialysis and kidney transplantation.
5) Fola Adeola, Fola Laoye, and Dapo Oshinusi – Iwosan Lagoon Hospitals (150 beds)
For Fola Laoye, the acquisition of Lagoon Hospitals represented one thing of a homecoming. Having beforehand spent a decade as Chief Executive Officer of Hygeia Group, which owned the hospital community, she would return years later as a co-founder of the funding firm that acquired it.
The hospital’s historical past, nonetheless, dates again to 1986, when Lagoon Hospitals established its first facility in Apapa, Lagos. Over the many years, the establishment expanded into different components of the state, together with Ikeja, Victoria Island and Ikoyi, with its former proprietor, Hygeia Group, additional strengthening the community via the acquisition of Gold Cross Hospitals in 2017.
In 2022, Iwosan Investments acquired Lagoon Hospitals, bringing the healthcare community underneath the possession of three achieved Nigerian professionals: Fola Adeola, co-founder and former Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank; Fola Laoye, a healthcare funding govt; and Dapo Oshinusi, an entrepreneur with over 20 years of expertise in the oil and gasoline business.
Adeola serves as Chairman, whereas Laoye leads the funding firm as Chief Executive Officer, with Oshinusi serving on its board.
Historically, the hospital community had a mixed capability of roughly 150 beds throughout 4 Lagos services, comprising 53 beds in Ikoyi, 40 in Ikeja, 30 in Apapa and 27 in Victoria Island.
Beyond inpatient care, the group operates outpatient clinics and a wellness centre, offering medical providers throughout cardiology, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and common surgical procedure.
Its enlargement continued in 2025 with the acquisition of Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital in Victoria Island from Eurapharma, the healthcare arm of CFAO Group, additional extending the funding firm’s presence in Nigeria’s private healthcare sector.
4) Irfan Khan, Group CEO Evercare Group, and Tosin Runsewe, Chairman – Evercare Hospital Lekki (165 beds)
Evercare Hospital Lekki is a 165-bed multispecialty private hospital in Lagos, owned by Evercare Group, a global healthcare organisation working hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres throughout rising markets, together with Nigeria, Kenya and Pakistan.
The Group is led by Irfan Khan, its Group Chief Executive Officer, who has over 25 years of expertise in healthcare administration, enterprise growth and institutional management throughout Africa and Asia. In December 2022, Khan was recognised amongst Pakistan’s 100 best-performing CEOs by the Pakistan Management Club.
At Evercare Hospital Lekki, the board is chaired by Tosin Runsewe, a finance and healthcare govt with over 27 years of skilled expertise, who assumed the place in May 2020.
Runsewe’s profession spans some of Nigeria’s main monetary establishments, together with Guaranty Trust Bank and AXA Mansard, the place he held senior administration positions. He additionally serves as Chief Executive Officer of AfyA Care, one other healthcare funding and administration firm.
A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Runsewe holds an MBA from the University of Lagos and studied Financial Economics at SOAS University of London. He additionally accomplished govt programmes at Harvard Business School and Cornell University.
The hospital gives specialist medical providers throughout a number of disciplines, forming half of Evercare Group’s investments in Nigeria’s private healthcare sector, the place rising demand for superior medical care has continued to drive funding in trendy hospital infrastructure.
3) Dr. Alex Eneli, Dr. Sunny Kuku, and Dr. Ameachi Obiora- Founders, Eko Hospital (170 beds)
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The story of Eko Hospital is one of friendship, shared ambition and the enduring legacy of three medical medical doctors who got here collectively to redefine private healthcare supply in Lagos.
In 1977, Dr Alex Eneli, an obstetrician and gynaecologist; Dr Sunny Kuku, a doctor and endocrinologist; and Dr Ameachi Obiora, a common surgeon and tutorial, established Mercy Specialist Clinic, a joint medical follow that might ultimately evolve into Eko Hospital in 1982.
The hospital’s title, EKO, was derived from the initials of their surnames: Eneli, Kuku and Obiora, reflecting the partnership that gave start to the establishment.
Over the years, their collective imaginative and prescient reworked the hospital from a modest medical follow into a significant healthcare establishment, culminating in its incorporation as EKO Hospital Plc in 1991 and subsequent transition to EKOCORP Plc in 1994.
Although Dr Eneli and Dr Obiora have since handed away, their contributions to Nigeria’s healthcare sector dwell on via the establishment they helped construct. Dr Kuku, who later served as Chairman of Ekocorp Plc, has additionally performed a major position in sustaining and advancing that legacy.
Today, Eko Hospital operates throughout three places in Lagos, comprising a 130-bed tertiary hospital in Ikeja, a 40-bed secondary healthcare facility in Surulere, and a major healthcare and diagnostic centre in Ikoyi.
With a mixed inpatient capability of roughly 170 beds, the hospital gives a spread of specialist providers, together with inside drugs, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, cardiology, orthopaedics and common surgical procedure, persevering with a healthcare legacy that started practically 5 many years in the past.
2) Dr Adeyemi Onabowale– Founder Reddington Healthcare Group (Reddington Hospital & Duchess Hospital) (232 beds)
Dr Adeyemi Onabowale’s journey in healthcare spans greater than 4 many years, throughout which he has constructed a status in inside drugs, hospital administration and healthcare entrepreneurship.
In 2001, he based the Reddington Healthcare Group, starting with a cardiac centre earlier than increasing right into a community of multispecialty hospitals throughout Lagos.
In 2006, the group established its flagship facility, Reddington Hospital, in Victoria Island. With an estimated 132-bed capability, the hospital gives specialist providers in cardiology, renal dialysis, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and common surgical procedure, amongst others.
The group’s enlargement continued in October 2021 with the institution of Duchess International Hospital, a purpose-built, 100-bed facility in Ikeja, providing superior medical providers, together with cardiothoracic surgical procedure, neurosurgery, intensive care and minimally invasive procedures.
Today, the Reddington Healthcare Group operates throughout a number of places in Lagos, together with Victoria Island, Ikeja and Lekki, with specialised services such because the Reddington Wellness Centre and the Breast and Gynaecology Centre, strengthening its place as one of Nigeria’s distinguished private healthcare suppliers.
1) Dr Funsho Oladipo, R-Jolad Hospital, Lagos (275 beds)
The story of how Dr Funsho Oladipo constructed R-Jolad Hospital, reworking it from a modest 10-bed facility in Gbagada into an expansive 215-bed healthcare community with places throughout Lagos, together with Isolo, Bariga, Agege, Ikeja and Surulere, and even increasing to Port Harcourt, displays the willpower and pursuit of excellence that earned him a distinction on the University of Ibadan’s Faculty of Medicine in June 1978.
In 1980, as half of the obligatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, the younger Oladipo was posted to the Sagamu Local Government Health Centre. His early medical profession additionally included a two-year stint at First Shadrack Hospital on Association Avenue, Ilupeju, Lagos.
However, his entrepreneurial instincts quickly got here to the fore, main him to determine R-Jolad Hospital in 1982, laying the muse for what would ultimately turn into one of Nigeria’s distinguished privately owned healthcare networks.
Popularly referred to as ‘The People’s Hospital’, R-Jolad, in accordance with its personal account, has grown right into a healthcare organisation with over 300 medical workers, greater than 190 nurses and 18 full-time consultants.
