Buhari’s medical trip, a blot on Nigeria’s image
President Muhammadu Buhari on his way to London for a ten-day vacation. He is expected to see an ENT specialist before retruning to the country. PHOTO: STATE HOUSE
I heard with shock and disappointment the statement issued on Sunday, June 5, 2016, by the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to Mr. President, informing the general public that President Muhammadu Buhari will proceed on a 10-day medical vacation to London from Monday, June 6, 2016, during which period he is billed to see an E.N.T. specialist for a persistent ear infection, based on a recommendation for further evaluation said to have been advanced by Mr. President’s Personal Physician and an E.N.T. specialist in Abuja.
Even though the nature of the persistent ear infection/specific diagnosis was not stated in the Special Adviser’s press release, I wish to commend Mr. President for the medical disclosure (a departure from the past) and sincerely sympathise with him, especially at this critical stage of our country’s history and development, and wish him quick recovery.
However, 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.
At various times, one had advised Mr. President to make a clear public pronouncement on his resolve to show leadership by example with respect to the utilisation 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.
Undoubtedly, this latest move by Mr. President at a time the Federal Government is said to be on a change mission and rebirth of national consciousness and commitment through a backward integration agenda, Mr. 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 and thereby inspiring confidence in Nigeria’s health sector which currently boasts of medical experts that favourably compare with medical experts anywhere in the world, if not even better.
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, among 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 (2015) 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.
Without prejudice to the expert recommendation of Mr. President’s Personal Physician and the ENT specialist said to have examined and treated Mr. President in Abuja, I consider it a national shame of immense proportions that Mr. President had to be recommended for foreign medical care/re-evaluation despite the presence of over 250 ENT specialists (and professors) in Nigeria, as well as a National Ear Centre located in Kaduna State.
If I were in their shoes I would have advised Mr. President to stay back in Nigeria and explore any of the following options: (1) urgently invite a consortium of Nigerian trained ENT specialists in Nigeria to Abuja to re-evaluate and treat Mr. President; or (2) if it is determined that the medical expertise is not available in Nigeria (and I doubt this), any identified Nigerian trained ENT specialist practising anywhere in the world should be invited to Abuja, for the sole purpose of re-evaluating and treating Mr. President; or (3) if it is a case where the health facilities/equipment are unavailable (and this is a possibility) then Mr. 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.
There are so many benefits that can accrue to Nigeria if Mr. President stays back in Nigeria to receive medical treatment and explores the above stated options. 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 (if indeed needed); he would save Nigeria (currently going through a socio-economic turmoil) the capital flight that would result from his planned foreign medical trip. It will also help to improve the state of healthcare facilities and medical practice in Nigeria (particularly through technology transfer).
I submitted myself for a highly skilled and successful ENT surgical intervention conducted in Nigeria in the month of April, 2016. As a trained medical specialist, I believe that those ENT specialists/medical experts (and many others in Nigeria) who handled my situation then are skilled enough, and with the right equipment in place can handle any complicated ENT problem in Nigeria.
The President should show committed leadership by urgently rethinking the planned foreign medical travel and exploring the suggested options of getting treated here in Nigeria.
Doing otherwise will send a strong negative signal to majority of toiling Nigerians who either have no means to seek healthcare services or daily indulge in catastrophic health expenditures, talk less of dreaming of travelling abroad for medical treatment.
• Dr. Enabulele, M.B; B.S, MHPM, FWACP is
Vice President, Commonwealth Medical Association.
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11 Comments
Indeed I fully concur with your position and profered solutions. A well thought out piece.
The president represents the people and all that is to them. At its basic, this is a serious vote of no confidence on the nigerian ENT specialists. It needn’t be so.
In the 70’s, when the Shah of Iran was ill with cancer, he couldn’t be treated by Iranian doctors. Cancer was quite complicated back then. French and Swiss doctors were flown into Iran under disguise to treat him. It was partly for the sake of national pride and to avoid panic about the news of his failing health.
Nigerian leaders must begin to really think through the issue of national pride and its effect on the morale of its citizens. It is not theoretical. It’s got profound ramifications on the state of a coubtry
You guys are not sincere, you want some useless Nigerian doctor to poison him ko? Do you know he has escaped about 11 attempts on his life since the day he declared to contest? Abeg let us rest. May God protect and guard him.
Please take a moment to think before you make any further comments
why doesnt he use a daura doctor???? doesnt he have a private doctor before becoming a presdint that will oversesa his treatment in nigeria. . you are the insincere one. is it only soilders that has been produced by daura. didnt you read that he would be treated by nigerian doctors in uk too.
You have said it all sir, if only Mr president will listen to your advice
Hmm, a well thought out piece indeed and many who do not understand the intricacy of the matter involved will concur hook line and sinker.
My friend Doctor, you know very well how complicated an ear infection could be and if the matter is before you seeing the enormity of the problem and in order to stem the spread of the infection to other vital organs, you will be left with no option than to recommend what your colleagues just did. All solutions proffered by you are laudable but fall in as a long term solution. We all know that we have specialists in all facets of Medicine most of whom were trained abroad this is indisputable, we do also know that our bane has always been lack of equipment to translate their expertise into practice because of misrule in the past when critical sectors are deliberately neglected, so because MR President wants to lead by example he will now stay with such deadly infection until such a time when money will be sourced and then the required equipment will be imported , installed , test run may be on him if its found okay fine , otherwise we go back to the manufacturers and so forth Habaa! What a gyration?
Besides, who told you MR President is on Medical vocation? You may wish to know that he is on vocation to take a rest and will take that opportunity to meet with an ENT specialist for re evaluation because he has been treated in Nigeria. Meanwhile , I thank you most sincerely for the long term solutions you proffered, I remember most times when Medical Doctors embark on strike action in Nigeria, it is about welfare and lack of Medical tools to work with and am sure being a Vice President Commonwealth Medical Association you must have been in the fore front agitating for this in the past but fell in deaf ears, be calm you have a responsive Government in Nigeria today and I assure you your solutions will be looked into, you are free to expand it to other areas not just ENT and you will be glad you did.
Thank you
Muhammad Ali Baba
Chartered Accountant
Kaduna, Nigeria
This nan is spending 6million pounds more than enough to buy whatever equipment and bring the consultant down to Nigeria to attend to the President.This is Animal Farm .And this is why corruption will nor go away in Nigeria because the president is showing the way and if people working in our minitries with 50k take home cannot get the money for this kind of treatment in Nigeria notwithstanding abroad they will help themselves to it by stealing
they should sack adeshina and make you pmb’s spokes person. it seems you know more than adeshina. you are not abusive as him anyway.
Ali Baba- your name is notorious but your contribution if soothing. Not aggressive or too defensive. However, you seems to know much about the severeness of Mr President ear problem. I was disappointed when I saw that you are a chartered accountant. I mean, I thought that you were his personal physician or perhaps his family member- to know how severe the ear problem is. The truth is that when you become a president in other clime, there are certain things you cannot do. I guess it does not apply to Nigeria. The president must travel out, governors must travel out, senators-travel out, House member- travel out, Directors and Their deputies travel out, all and sundries in the government circle travel out- there is a run for forex to accomplish all and constant fall of the Naira to abysses! Let them all have a field day. it their turn. Peradventure I found myself in that govt circle, i shall globe throttle, for this is what applies herewithin.
Politicisation of Clinical Care?
I admire Dr. Osahon Onabulele for the bold and fearless leadership he exhibited as president of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and now as the Vice President of the Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA). If Nigeria had but a handful of people with that much fire in the belly, the country’s political leadership would not have led us to our present predicament. Nevertheless, each doctor must put the life and welfare of his or her patient above all other priorities, and Onabulele’s condemnation, in rather intemperate language, of President Buhari’s mission to seek for treatment abroad deviates sharply from the ethics of good medical practice.
Everyone living in Nigeria should get the best medical treatment they need, so we advocate for the upgrading of medical services in the country. Saving of foreign exchange, as far as I am concerned, is a good by-product of this action, and I would use the argument to persuade the government to increase its investment in health services, but I would never use it to block a particular patient from being referred abroad. Please note that countries like the United States and United Kingdom still have a large number of their citizens seeking for medical treatment abroad. In any case, from what I read, the government did not say it would block treatment abroad, but gave a deadline after which it would no longer fund it from public coffers. The question should therefore be whether the deadline has passed and the President should pay from his own personal resources.
The Vice President of the CMA said that the treatment of PMB overseas is a “tragic blot on Nigeria’s collective image,” a “national shame of immense proportions” and that treatment in Nigeria would have inspired confidence in the health sector.” These sentiments are the foundation pillars of unfortunate pride that overshadows many doctors’ essential humility when they would rather watch a patient die in their hands than refer him to another practitioner with better skills and equipment. Personal ego and political exigencies have no place in the clinical management of patients, and it is doubtful if the CMA would want to send such a message to Nigeria.
We have very talented specialists in practically all branches of health care, and when we provide them with such basic infrastructures as potable water, reliable power, good network of communications, advanced supportive services and happy satisfied staff, there would be no need to force patients to stay home for their treatments; they will.
It is no surprise that the president failed to lead by example. There has being numerous time he could have lifted the country, he could have advance a policy much more. 1) he hasn’t fully declared his asset. 2) his failed trips to Lagos and Niger delta area. 3) His lack of effort to really cut governing cost, by reducing the presidential plane fleet, by using a made in Nigeria vehicle. 4) His failure to immediately tour the country upon being elected president. so it is no surprise that he failed again.
We will review and take appropriate action.