NIGERIA: Nigeria Exports Medical Tourists With The President

Vice President, Commonwealth Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele 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, saying, “it as a tragic blot on Nigeria’s collective professional and National image.”

President Muhammadu Buhari 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 him.

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.

NIGERIA: Nigeria Loses N250b On Medical Tourism Yearly

The Nigerian medical Association (NMA) has raised the alarm, saying that Nigeria loses N250 billion yearly to medical tourism.

The association said the solution to such capital flight lies with the upgrading of the country’s tertiary institutions and replacing obsolete equipment with modern ones.

In a communiqué at the end of its national executive council (NEC) meeting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, NMA said it was opposed to giving girls out in marriage before the age of 18.

The communiqué was signed by NMA President and Secretary-General, Dr Kayode Obembe and Dr Adewunmi Alayaki.

NMA urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a medical doctor as the minister of health, adding that “doctors who take care of the sick must be accorded priority in the scheme of things”.

Part of the communiqué reads: “NMA has been clamouring for the post of Surgeon General which is paramount in our health system. Examples we can point to are: Attorney General of the Federation, Accountant-General of the Federation and Surveyor-General and Auditor General.

“The NMA is opposed to giving out our girls in marriage before the age of 18 years because before that age, the bony system has not fully developed. Scientifically, this practice should be condemned, the birth canal will be very narrow for the head of the baby to pass through during labour, which can lead to the condition called Vesico Virginal Fistula (VVF). We appeal to all men of good will to impress on our Government and policy makers to rescue our female children from this miserable life and ultimate disaster.

“We know that President Mohammadu Buhari has respect for human lives, hence doctors who take care of the sick must be accorded priority in the scheme of things. We hereby implore the President to appoint a Medical Doctor as the Minister of Health. We also implore him to bring out the white paper on Yayale Ahmed Report because this will promote industrial harmony in the health sector.

“NMA is very concerned with the incessant strikes that have bedeviled the health sector which is due to the fact that circulars issued by the government were not cash backed. In the interim, supplementary allocation should be made to pay for such commitments while on a long term basis, it must be clearly defined as a budget heading in 2016 appropriation.

“NMA is worried at the rate at which the so called regulatory bodies, apart from Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), invade our hospitals. We hereby appeal to the Police to cooperate with NMA in ensuring that no regulatory body apart from MDCN is allowed to come and interrupt Doctors while they are on their legitimate vocation of saving lives as this constitutes distraction and interruption in the hospital environment.

“NMA is in full support of the Universal health coverage, this has been the focus of the national officers’ committee (NOC) of the Association and we believe the instrument of the full implementation is through National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). We are delighted that the National Health Act made provision for getting one percent consolidated revenue fund through the NHIS while the other 50 percent goes to the primary health care.

“NMA is poised to eradicate measles from our country. We have kicked out polio and Ebola. Everybody should join hands with NMA to achieve this. Therefore, our Physicians Week in October shall focus on measles.”