President
Muhammadu Buhari has embarked on a medical trip to London to treat an
ear infection, however it seems not everyone is comfortable with his
decision.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Dr. Osahon Enabulele, the Vice President of the Commonwealth
Medical Association, on Monday expressed disappointment at the news of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s10-Day medical trip to London for an Ear,
Nose and Throat, E.N.T, infection.
According to him “it as a tragic blot on Nigeria’s collective professional and National image.”
According to Vanguard, the former President, Nigerian Medical
Association, NMA, who condemned frequent medical trip by government
officials, said Nigeria has suffered a great loss to medical tourism in
recent past.
“I am very constrained to state that this foreign medical trip
flies in the face of the Federal Government’s earlier declaration of her
resolve to halt the embarrassing phenomenon of outward medical tourism,
which as at the end of the year 2013 had led to a humongous capital
flight of about $1billion dollars, particularly from expenses incurred
by political and public office holders and their accompanying aides,
whose foreign medical trips most of which are unnecessary, were financed
with tax payers’ resources”, he said.
Osahon who advised the president Buhari to live by example at
curbing medical tourism and saving Nigerians this great loss incurred
through numerous trips abroad for medication stated that the President
has lost a golden opportunity to assert his change mantra through a
clear demonstration of leadership by example, by staying back to receive
medical treatment in Nigeria.
He added that receiving treatment in Nigeria would inspire
confidence in the health sector which currently boasts of medical
experts that favourably compare with medical experts anywhere in the
world, if not better.
“Mr. President should make a clear public pronouncement on his
resolve to show leadership by example with respect to the utilization of
the medical expertise and facilities that abound in Nigeria by him and
other members of the Federal Executive Council, particularly in concrete
expression of section 46 of the National Health Act which seeks to
address the abuse of tax payers’ resources through frivolous foreign
medical travels embarked upon by political and public office holders”.
He said: “It is on record that most public and political office
holders who seek foreign medical care abroad are handled by Nigerian
trained doctors in foreign lands particularly in the United Kingdom
which has over 3000 Nigerian trained medical doctors, United States of
America with over 5000 Nigerian trained medical doctors, amongst other
foreign countries, most of whom left the shores of Nigeria on account of
government’s perennial failure to address the various push and pull
factors which have consistently driven this yearly brain drain
phenomenon in Nigeria.
“Available records show that last year alone, 637 medical
doctors emigrated due largely to poor working conditions and health
facilities, insecurity, unpredictable and poor funding of Residency
Training Programme, uncompetitive wages and job dissatisfaction.”
The former NMA president said; “Without prejudice to the expert
recommendation of President’s Personal Physician and the ENT specialist
said to have examined and treated him in Abuja, I consider it a
national shame of immense proportions that Mr. President had to be
recommended for foreign medical care despite the presence of over 250
ENT specialists and professors in Nigeria, as well as a National Ear
Centre located in Kaduna state.”
He recommended that the presidency should consider other options
such as inviting a consortium of Nigerian trained ENT specialists in
Nigeria to Abuja to re-evaluate and treat hi. If it is determined that
the medical expertise is not available in Nigeria, any identified
Nigerian trained ENT specialist practicing anywhere in the world should
be invited to Abuja for re-evaluating and treating him.
“If it is a case where the health facilities/equipment are
unavailable then the President should have used his current medical
situation, though unfortunate, to commence the Federal Government’s plan
to re-equip Nigerian hospitals with modern state-of-the art health
facilities, by ordering for the needed medical equipment to enable the
locally available Nigerian trained ENT specialists to attend to him, and
thereafter use same facilities to attend to other Nigerians with
similar conditions.
“Indeed, it will be a win-win situation for Nigeria as Mr.
President will not only get managed with the imported medical facilities
and expertise; he would save Nigeria the capital flight that would
result from his planned foreign medical trip."