The growing population of Lagos, a city of over 20 million people, continues to place enormous pressure on some of the state’s critical infrastructure, particularly its healthcare system, where hospitals and medical professionals are increasingly stretched by the overwhelming number of patients seeking medical attention.
The state, which remains at the centre of Nigeria’s healthcare challenges, has an estimated 7,385 doctors serving its growing population. Beyond the shortage of medical personnel relative to its population, some hospitals also struggle with inadequate infrastructure, including something as fundamental as bed capacity, which determines how many patients can be admitted for medical treatment.
Yet, amid these challenges, a generation of medical practitioners, entrepreneurs and investors has built private healthcare institutions that have grown from modest clinics into multispecialty hospitals, some with hundreds of beds and facilities spread across different parts of the state.
Behind these institutions are stories of ambition, professional excellence and decades of investment. Some were founded by doctors who returned from practising abroad to establish their own medical facilities, while others emerged from partnerships between healthcare professionals or investments by business leaders who recognised the growing demand for private healthcare services.
Today, these hospitals provide specialist medical services ranging from cardiology and neurosurgery to kidney transplantation and intensive care.
Nairametrics examines some of Lagos’ largest private hospitals by reported bed capacity, highlighting the individuals and organisations behind their establishment, ownership and expansion.
Dr Awele V. Elumelu, OFR, is one of those individuals whose diverse portfolio of achievements makes it extremely difficult, albeit exciting, to define her by a single professional identity.
A trained medical doctor, she earned her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree from the University of Benin and has practised medicine in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
In 2013, she founded Avon Medical, a 50-bed multispecialty healthcare facility in Lagos. That same year, she established Avon Healthcare Limited, a health maintenance 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 with her commitment to entrepreneurship development through the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which she co-founded with her husband, billionaire businessman Tony Elumelu, earned her the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2023.
In 2026, she received further international recognition when she was named a TIME100 Philanthropy honouree, joining the ranks of the world’s most influential philanthropists in recognition of her transformative contributions to philanthropy and entrepreneurship across Africa through the Foundation.
The story of St. Nicholas Hospital is one of medical excellence, public service and a family legacy that has endured for more than seven decades.
Its founder, Dr Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi, born in Abeokuta in August 1916, studied at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned qualifications in Anatomy, Physiology, Bacteriology and Clinical Medicine before practising medicine in Ireland.
Returning to Nigeria in 1943, Majekodunmi joined the Federal Government Medical Services and later played a significant role in establishing the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
His career extended beyond medicine 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 crisis involving Samuel Akintola and Obafemi Awolowo.
However, his contributions to private healthcare began earlier, in 1952, when he established a medical practice in a converted residential building, which eventually evolved into St. Nicholas Hospital, officially opened in March 1968.
More than five decades later, the institution remains under the leadership of the Majekodunmi family, with his son, Dr Dapo Majekodunmi, serving as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
According to its official website, St. Nicholas Hospital has a 50-bed capacity, with operations extending across several locations in Lagos, including Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Maryland and the Lekki Free Zone.
The hospital has also recorded significant milestones in specialist healthcare, particularly in nephrology, becoming one of Nigeria’s pioneering private hospitals in dialysis and kidney transplantation.
For Fola Laoye, the acquisition of Lagoon Hospitals represented something of a homecoming. Having previously spent a decade as Chief Executive Officer of Hygeia Group, which owned the hospital network, she would return years later as a co-founder of the investment company that acquired it.
The hospital’s history, however, dates back to 1986, when Lagoon Hospitals established its first facility in Apapa, Lagos. Over the decades, the institution expanded into other parts of the state, including Ikeja, Victoria Island and Ikoyi, with its former owner, Hygeia Group, further strengthening the network through the acquisition of Gold Cross Hospitals in 2017.
In 2022, Iwosan Investments acquired Lagoon Hospitals, bringing the healthcare network under the ownership of three accomplished Nigerian professionals: Fola Adeola, co-founder and former Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank; Fola Laoye, a healthcare investment executive; and Dapo Oshinusi, an entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in the oil and gas industry.
Adeola serves as Chairman, while Laoye leads the investment company as Chief Executive Officer, with Oshinusi serving on its board.
Historically, the hospital network had a combined capacity of approximately 150 beds across four Lagos facilities, 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, providing medical services across cardiology, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and general surgery.
Its expansion continued in 2025 with the acquisition of Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital in Victoria Island from Eurapharma, the healthcare arm of CFAO Group, further extending the investment company’s presence in Nigeria’s private healthcare sector.
Evercare Hospital Lekki is a 165-bed multispecialty private hospital in Lagos, owned by Evercare Group, an international healthcare organisation operating hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres across emerging markets, including Nigeria, Kenya and Pakistan.
The Group is led by Irfan Khan, its Group Chief Executive Officer, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare management, business development and institutional leadership across Africa and Asia. In December 2022, Khan was recognised among 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 executive with over 27 years of professional experience, who assumed the position in May 2020.
