By John Ogunsemore
The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) said Nigeria loses $7 billion annually on medical tourism because of a lack of trust in the local health system.
Vice President of NMA, Dr. Benjamin Olowojebutu said this as a guest on Arise News on Tuesday evening, days after former President Muhammadu Buhari died in a clinic in London, United Kingdom.
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He said many doctors also flee the country due to unfavourable working conditions to seek greener pastures abroad.
This, he said, has resulted in an alarming 1:10,000 doctor-to-patient ratio instead of the recommended 1:600 ratio.
He slammed the political class for constantly calling on Nigerians to be patriotic without setting a good example.
Olowojebutu said, “I think it is important to say that you can’t say that Nigerians should be patriotic and you as a leader can’t do the same thing.
“It’s been a lot of problems over and again. Leaders leave the country in jeopardy, this bad state and use tax payers’ money to go abroad to get themselves sorted.
“I think it’s not very good. Right now, we have about $7 billion leaving the country on medical tourism every year because we don’t trust our system.
“The government has failed the Nigerian medical space. We are supposed to have one doctor to 600 patients but we have one doctor to about 10,000 patients. No value for healthcare, no passion for the country.
“We keep saying think about Nigeria first but the leaders are not thinking about Nigeria first.”
He emphasised that quality healthcare should be a right of every citizen but appears to be secluded only for those able to travel abroad very fast.
He also flayed the “copy and paste” policies in the medical sector, saying the citizenry are not in tune with most of the “inapplicable” policies.
Olowojebutu said it is disheartening that Buhari died in a London clinic.
“How many of the presidents of those countries die in other countries?” he asked.
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