Ghana has officially launched Navala Travel Health, a digital healthcare platform connecting international travellers with licensed healthcare providers, hospitals and pharmacies through telemedicine, in-person care, emergency coordination and medical concierge services. The platform was launched by Ablah Dzifa Gomashie, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, at the Tang Palace Hotel in Accra on 14 August 2026, with the African Medical Tourism Council as a key partner.
Navala is designed to address one of the practical challenges associated with international travel: accessing reliable healthcare in an unfamiliar destination. Through its digital platform, travellers can access virtual consultations, locate vetted healthcare providers, coordinate appointments and referrals, and receive assistance navigating local health systems.
The launch brings together tourism, healthcare and technology stakeholders as Ghana continues to develop its position in leisure, business, cultural and medical tourism.
A healthcare layer for international travel
Navala Travel Health describes its proposition as “Healthcare Without Borders”, providing travellers with access to healthcare support before and during their journeys.
Its service model includes immediate access to licensed healthcare professionals through secure virtual consultations, a 24/7 medical concierge, coordination of specialist appointments and referrals, and assistance with imaging, prescriptions and other healthcare requirements.
The platform is intended to serve a broad international traveller base, including leisure and business travellers, families, students abroad, digital nomads and employees covered under corporate mobility programmes.
Travellers can create a secure health profile before departure and use the platform during their journey to schedule telehealth consultations or identify local providers. Navala’s concierge service then coordinates the care process where additional medical intervention is required.
The company says providers within its network are vetted and appropriately licensed in their respective jurisdictions.
The platform also offers event-based health plans for individuals and families, with telehealth visits and specialty-care coordination included in the coverage outlined at the launch.
Tourism and healthcare increasingly connected
Speaking at the launch, Ablah Dzifa Gomashie, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, described the initiative as aligned with Ghana’s tourism priorities.
“Travellers do not only seek beautiful destinations, they seek safety, assurance, and confidence that their well-being is protected wherever they go.”
She said Ghana’s ambition to attract leisure, business, cultural and medical travellers require healthcare to form part of the wider tourism experience.
According to the Minister, tourism contributed US$4.34 billion to Ghana’s GDP in 2025, while the country recorded more than 1.3 million international tourist arrivals.
Gomashie also linked the launch to Ghana’s wider digitalization and tourism-development agenda, noting that tourism and healthcare cannot operate independently.
“NAVALA Travel Health responds directly to this need by integrating technology, healthcare, and tourism.”
She said the platform’s partnerships with hospitals, clinics, tourism agencies and hospitality establishments reflected the kind of cross-sector collaboration required to improve service delivery.
The Minister also highlighted an additional healthcare-related tourism opportunity: accommodation and support services for caregivers accompanying patients seeking treatment in Ghana.
She pointed to the number of patients arriving from neighboring West African countries for specialist treatment and noted that relatives accompanying them can face significant accommodation costs during extended periods of care.
Her appeal extended to businesses to consider developing affordable accommodation options for caregivers, particularly around major healthcare facilities.
African Medical Tourism Council partnership
A central element of the launch is Navala’s partnership with the African Medical Tourism Council, whose President, Dr. Kobby Appiah-Sakyi, said the organization brings together 10 major hospitals, primarily in Accra, with plans to extend its network across Ghana.
He said the Council’s role includes helping patients and medical travellers identify appropriate healthcare providers while supporting quality standards within participating facilities.
For Dr. Appiah-Sakyi, the partnership addresses a straightforward challenge for international patients: knowing where to find the right specialist and healthcare facility.
“The trick is to be able to find the right doctor in good time who can provide you the healthcare.”
He noted that Ghana has a pool of medical professionals working both locally and internationally, but that access to information about available specialists and facilities remains important.
The Council is also developing its own local platform to help people identify specialists and procedures in Ghana. Dr. Appiah-Sakyi said the two platforms would have a relationship, allowing users of Navala to access the Council’s healthcare network.
The partnership is also intended to introduce an additional quality-control layer. According to Dr. Appiah-Sakyi, participating facilities are expected to meet minimum standards, while the Council will maintain access to hospital chief executives within its network when patients encounter difficulties requiring intervention.
“We ensure that if you went through NAVALA and then it got to us and we were directing you to a particular facility, then we have a quality check on that facility.”
He said the quality process would develop over time, with participating facilities required to demonstrate that they meet defined standards.
Medical tourism as part of the visitor economy
Dr. Appiah-Sakyi positioned medical tourism alongside conventional tourism rather than as a separate market.
He cited Ghana’s growing appeal to visitors from the sub-region and the diaspora and said international visitors can combine tourism with access to healthcare services.
He also pointed to specialist and elective procedures, including cosmetic surgery, as areas with potential relevance to Ghana’s medical tourism offer.
The Council is expected to engage the Ghana Tourism Authority on developing such products, particularly around periods of increased diaspora travel.
Dr. Appiah-Sakyi also contrasted the spending associated with conventional tourism and medical tourism, noting that medical travellers can generate substantially higher expenditure.
For Ghana, the challenge is therefore not only attracting patients but ensuring that visitors can identify suitable providers, access quality services and navigate the healthcare system efficiently.
Navala’s role sits primarily at the access and coordination point, while the African Medical Tourism Council is positioning itself around provider quality and healthcare-network coordination.
Building a coordinated tourism-health ecosystem
The launch also brought attention to the range of organizations required to support a traveller who needs medical assistance abroad.
Hon. Gomashie said Navala brings together healthcare providers, tourism operators, hotels, airlines and emergency services within a coordinated ecosystem.
She identified three areas requiring continued attention: stronger partnerships between health institutions, tourism operators and technology companies; capacity-building and training; and improved digital and emergency-response readiness.
The Minister said:
“Building capacity, training, digital readiness and emergency response systems must be enhanced to meet global standards.”
That places the platform within a wider tourism-service discussion extending beyond the technology itself. A digital interface can provide access, but the quality and responsiveness of the underlying healthcare, hospitality and emergency networks remain central to the traveller experience.
A regional medical tourism opportunity
Dr. Appiah-Sakyi said Ghana has increasingly become a healthcare destination for patients from across West Africa, with people travelling into the country for specialist treatment.
He described Ghana as a focal point for healthcare within the sub-region and said the country’s expanding health infrastructure and pool of medical professionals provide a foundation for further development.
For tourism stakeholders, this creates an intersection between medical travel and the broader visitor economy. Patients may travel with relatives, require accommodation for extended periods and use transport, hospitality and other services while receiving treatment.
That makes healthcare access relevant not only to medical tourism but also to destination management more broadly.
The Navala model also reflects a wider movement towards digital tools that help international travellers navigate fragmented services. Its distinction is that it combines digital access with human concierge support and coordination rather than functioning solely as a directory of healthcare providers.
The road ahead
Navala’s immediate focus is on building its provider network and partnerships while making its digital healthcare services accessible to international travellers entering Ghana and travelling elsewhere.
The African Medical Tourism Council will continue its work on healthcare-provider standards and its own specialist-access platform, while maintaining its relationship with Navala.
For the Ministry of Tourism, the launch adds another component to Ghana’s efforts to develop tourism products around health, technology and visitor services. Hon. Gomashie also called for deeper collaboration between tourism and healthcare institutions as the country develops its tourism infrastructure.
At the close of the event, Nana Ayisi Ako II, Chairman of the event, commended Navala Global and the African Medical Tourism Council for addressing the intersection of healthcare, tourism and technology.
“I therefore commend Navala Global and the African Medical Tourism Council for recognizing this important gap and developing a platform that brings together healthcare, tourism and technology.”
He congratulated the organizations on the launch and expressed his wishes for Navala Travel Health to achieve growth, credibility, innovation and international recognition.
