President Muhammadu Buhari’s nonchalance toward public criticisms of his last trip to London, United Kingdom, for a routine medical check-up speaks volumes of his unpresidential attitude and penchants against Nigerians.
Public reactions to the trip were largely constructive and predicated on the need to lift up Nigeria’s medical healthcare system from its current morass, along with the thinking that Nigeria’s health facilities should be good enough for the president and Nigerians; and that so long as highly placed public officers can go abroad for routine medical checks using state resources, they will not be motivated to provide standard healthcare at home. Those arguments are well-intended and ought not to be treated with apparent disdain by the president.
The frequent foreign medical trips of Buhari are not only unprecedented but also demonstrate his disinterest in improving the healthcare system of Nigeria. His preference for foreign, rather than local, treatment is unpatriotic and has exposed Nigeria to ridicule among the community of nations. It paints a poor picture of the country’s healthcare sector and casts doubt on the competence of local medical professionals before the world.
The sarcastic question posed by King Charles to Buhari about whether the latter owns a residential building in London is tantamount to saying, “As the President of your country, why are you always here?” This indicates that not only is the world watching, but it is also taking notes.
Buhari’s foreign trips expose the hypocrisy of an administration that purports to promote local content by banning the importation of certain foreign items and claims it would no longer provide resources for government officials to travel abroad for medical attention.
Additionally, in spite of the humongous budgetary allocations earmarked for Aso Rock Clinic every year, the hospice is reportedly still ill-equipped. More worrisome is the continuous mass exodus of Nigeria’s health practitioners abroad due to poor social safety nets and the abysmal response of the government to the same.
With barely six months left in Buhari’s administration, Nigerians are not overly hopeful of any positive change from the president on medical tourism, and this is a shame, considering he has spent almost eight years in office. Incoming political leaders should avoid this dangerous precedent. Foreign treatment by public officers should be restricted except for cases that cannot be handled in Nigeria.