For decades, Nigeria’s healthcare system has carried the weight of a growing population without a matching expansion in infrastructure and funding.
Public hospitals, envisioned as the backbone of care delivery, have struggled to meet expectations.
Nigeria’s healthcare system has, in many ways, reinvented itself, from overcrowded public wards to the steady rise of private medical giants.
According to data by WHO, the private sector provides close to 60% of health service delivery, in spite owning an estimated 30% of health facilities.
These institutions did not emerge in isolation. They are responses to gaps, to crises filled by a mix of entrepreneurs, medical professionals, and institutional investors who have built facilities that now rival international standards.
Some were established by practitioners who had seen advanced systems abroad and returned determined to replicate them locally. Others emerged from business minds that recognized healthcare as both a necessity and a viable long-term investment.
This feature article explores Nigeria’s largest private hospitals based on scale of operations, highlighting the individuals and organisations behind them, as well as the range of specialist care they provide.
Here are the owners of the largest hospitals in Nigeria by bed capacity.
- Founder -Dr. Moses Majekodunmi / CEO Dr. Dapo Majekodunmi
St. Nicholas Hospital is one of Nigeria’s oldest and largest privately owned multi-speciality hospitals, established in March 1968.
It was founded in 1968 by Dr. Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi, an eminent physician, administrator, and former Federal Minister of Health. The hospital grew from an earlier private practice established in 1952, which initially focused on obstetrics, gynaecology, and paediatrics.
Dr. Majekodunmi trained in medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1941, and went on to earn postgraduate qualifications, including a Doctor of Medicine and a Master of Obstetrics. He was among the youngest Africans to achieve this at the time.
Following the founder’s legacy, the hospital is currently led by Dr. Dapo Majekodunmi, his son, who serves as Managing Director/CEO.
Today, from a converted dwelling house, it operates across multiple locations in Lagos, including Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Maryland, Surulere, and the Lekki Free Zone. According to the hospital, the facility operates with an estimated 50-bed capacity; the exact bed capacity of its other branches has not been publicly disclosed.
The hospitals are known for pioneering several medical services in Nigeria. It was the first private hospital to establish a dialysis and kidney transplant centre and has carried out over 250 kidney transplants.
St. Nicholas Hospital offers a wide range of services, including nephrology and kidney transplantation, cardiothoracic surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, and general medicine.
- Avon Medical Practice, owned by Heirs Holdings, the investment firm founded and chaired by Nigerian investor and philanthropist Tony Elumelu, also operates a 50-bed capacity.
