Hardball
President Muhammadu Buhari should know that it will take more than words to stop medical tourism among Nigerians. So his administration needs to do something beyond his words during the inauguration of completed projects at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
Buhari, who was represented at the event, on January 3, by the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, was quoted as saying: “Nigerians have suffered so much going abroad for medical treatment. This is not good for us and it must stop because we can’t afford it again.”
There is such a thing as leading by example, which Buhari should do concerning travelling abroad for medical treatment. As President, he had sought medical treatment abroad a number of times.
As Buhari observed, medical tourism doesn’t come cheap. Last September, a report that Nigerians spent more than $15bn yearly to seek medical treatment abroad showed just how expensive medical tourism could be.
An American physician, Stephen Hunt of the University of Pennsylvania, USA, told journalists at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State: “More than $15bn is spent yearly by Nigerians to travel abroad for medical reasons. We can reduce that if people are trained here so they won’t have to spend a lot of money. When they travel, they are not just paying for the medical service; they are also paying for food, accommodation and flight. It won’t be that expensive if it can be treated in Nigeria.”
It is said that health is wealth. This explains why Nigerian medical travellers are willing to spend so much to get healthcare abroad, particularly when they can’t get the desired healthcare in the country. It is disappointing that the authorities have allowed this situation to persist. Indeed, people in power encourage medical tourism by their bad example of travelling abroad for medical purposes at the slightest opportunity.
A related reality is that a large number of medical doctors continue to leave the country for greener pastures abroad because of the poor healthcare system, demoralising remuneration and deteriorating hospital facilities. The exodus of doctors has escalated in the last two years, according to an investigative report. Nigerian doctors continue to pursue professional and material fulfillment in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
There is no excuse for neglecting the health system. The plain truth is that the Buhari administration should improve the health system, and the President should practise what he preaches.
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