The President Muhamamdu Buhari-led ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, appears to be adopting a “Do what we say, Don’t do what we do” approach, to medical tourism in Nigeria.
It was heart breaking as Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, spoke out against the substantial sums spent by Nigerians travelling abroad to receive medical treatment.
“We want to stop that trend, because it is draining our reserves”, said Osinbajo, at a National Health Forum, which held in the Federal Capital, Abuja, on Thursday.
The timing of the comments was somewhat inauspicious: Osinbajo’s boss, Buhari, only returned on Saturday, from a three months medical break in the United Kingdom, UK,, where he received treatment for an undisclosed ailment.
It was not the first time that the 74-year old Buhari, a former Military Ruler, elected in a 2015 democratic vote, had travelled abroad for treatment.
Buhari spent almost two months seeing Doctors in London, earlier in 2017, while he also travelled to Britain in June 2016, to see an ear, nose, and throat Specialist.
Recall, that the Nigerian Medical Association issued a statement on Monday, saying that Nigerian Doctors, “are capable of handling any ailment, if optimal working conditions are provided”, and urged the President to allocate more funds to the health sector.
Some Nigerians have however, accused the President of setting a bad example, while others have mocked the amount of time he spent in London.
Nigeria spends around 3.7 percent of its budget on the health sector, according to the World Health Organization, WHO, which through the Ministry of Health received one of the largest allocations in the 2017 budget, of 253 billion naira ($705 million).
Nonetheless, public officials spending money outside Nigeria on health treatment, has been a major problem in the country.
In 2016, a former Director of the NMA, said that Nigeria spent around $1 billion funding foreign medical trips, mostly for government officials, in 2013.
Buhari’s stay in the UK was reminiscent to that of late Umaru Yar’Adua, who was President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. Yar’Adua travelled to Saudi Arabia for treatment in late 2009, and remained there for three months; Yar’Adua died in office three months after his return to Nigeria, in February 2010.
Some Nigerians have called on the government to account for the cost of Buhari’s stay in London.
Responding indirectly, Buhari’s Spokesman, Garba Shehu, confirmed that a Nigerian Presidential jet was kept in London during Buhari’s time in the UK, but said it would not cost more than $1,300, denying much higher costs reported in the Nigerian media.
Another Buhari Adviser, Femi Adesina, said earlier in August, that he “did not know who is paying” for the President’s treatment in London.
At the event on Thursday, Osinbajo, who served as Acting President during Buhari’s absence, said that medical tourism had cost Nigeria billions of dollars, and that the Buhari administration was keen to improve the healthcare in the country.
Nigeria has a massive population of more than 180 million people, but a relative shortage of medical professionals; the country has 1.95 percent of Doctors, Midwives, and Nurses per 1,000 people.
Some 2,300 children under the age of 5 and 145 women die every day in Nigeria, meaning the country has one of the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world.
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