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.
- Dr Adeyemi Onabowale– Founder
The Reddington Healthcare Group, founded by Dr. Adeyemi Onabowale, is a private multi-speciality healthcare provider established in 2001, beginning with a cardiac centre before expanding into a network of specialist hospitals across Lagos.
Dr. Adeyemi Onabowale is a medical doctor and healthcare entrepreneur with over four decades of experience in internal medicine and hospital management.
Its flagship facility, Reddington Hospital in Victoria Island, established in 2006, is a tertiary care centre with an estimated 132-bed capacity, offering a wide range of services including cardiology, renal dialysis, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, ENT, psychiatry, and general surgery, supported by emergency care, radiology, and endoscopic procedures.
The group also operates The Duchess Hospital, a 100-bed purpose-built facility established in October 2021, designed to deliver care across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. The hospital features a comprehensive emergency system with intensive care units for adult, cardiac, paediatric, and neonatal patients, alongside advanced services such as cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, spine care, and minimally invasive procedures.
Across its network, which includes facilities in Victoria Island, Ikeja, and Lekki, the group is recognised for its leadership in cardiac care and its focus on delivering consultant-led specialist services in Nigeria.
It also runs specialised centres such as the Reddington Wellness Centre and the Breast and Gynaecology Centre.
