The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has revealed the amount President Muhamamdu Buhari, others, spend yearly on foreign medical trip.
He noted that by conservative estimates, Buhari and other Nigerians going outside the country for medical care, cost the country about $1 billion, annually.
Ehanire’s revelation is coming at a time when President Muhammadu Buhari just left the country on another medical vacation, to London.
Since coming to office two years ago, the President had embarked on several medical trips abroad, including seeking medical attention for an ear infection outside the country.
Before embarking on his f0llow-up medical trip to London, on Sunday, Buhari had spent 49 days in the United Kingdom for medical treatments.
The Federal Government has however, refused to disclose the nature of his ailment, as well as the actual amount of money that has gone into his treatments.
Ehanire, who spoke at the inauguration of the Reddington Hospital Group’s Cardiology Centre, in Lagos, said by conservative estimates, medical tourism cost Nigeria about $1 billion annually, adding that, the phenomenon which many Nigerians have resorted to, has left the poor in Nigeria to their fate, or faith in God, and the so-called native medicine.
He however, identified limited access, inequitable distribution of facilities, limitation of both material, financial, and human resources for health, poor attitude to work, strikes and inter-professional discord, and limited affordability for the average citizen, as challenges plaguing Nigeria’s health sector.
He said: “The Federal Ministry of Health, is furthering the revitalisation of nearly 10,000 Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs) in Nigeria; at least one in every political ward, working with the States and our development partners, to rebuild the National Health System from the foundation, including plans for a referral system to relay patients through secondary to tertiary facilities.”
Ehanire further disclosed that government is encouraging private sector participation in health care delivery, in order to check the situation.
“The commissioning of Grays Cardiology Centre has set the bar higher, as it goes beyond the routine, to bring state of the art diagnostic and intervention capacity to Nigeria. We are proud that services that would have been found only in the top hospitals of technologically advanced countries, can be rendered right here in the country, without need for passport, visa, airfare, or other hurdles and expenses”, he said.
