Nigeria has spent a staggering $1.04 million on foreign healthcare services in the first quarter of 2023, marking a significant increase of 40.54% compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s quarterly statistical bulletin.
The Punch also reported that the breakdown reveals that medical tourism consumed $0.34 million in January 2023, $0.32 million in February 2023, and surged to $0.38 million in March 2023.
The growing trend of Nigerian leaders and politicians seeking medical treatment abroad exposes the underlying challenges in the country’s healthcare system, such as a poor primary healthcare system, inadequate facilities, brain drain, and disease outbreaks.
Notably, former President Muhammadu Buhari’s frequent overseas medical treatments have received considerable attention, with him, his wife, and son, Yusuf, spending over 250 days abroad for medical care.
Commenting on the matter, the National Vice Chairman of the Joint Health Sector Unions, Dr. Obinna Ogbonna, attributed the surge in medical tourism to corruption, mismanagement, and inadequate infrastructure in Nigeria’s healthcare system.
He said, “Nigerians who are well-to-do lack confidence in our medical facilities. Even though we have well-trained personnel that can handle all medical cases, the infrastructure and the equipment are not adequate. These prefer to spend their money abroad, but when they get there, it is still Nigerian doctors that will attend to them.”
He emphasized the urgent need for President Bola Tinubu to invest in modernizing and upgrading the country’s health centers to boost confidence among the well-to-do Nigerians.
“We hope President Bola Tinubu will make our health centres attractive by putting up standard infrastructures and equipment that are up-to-date with the current emerging diseases ravaging the country,” Ogbonna stated.
Former Vice-President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Julian Ojebo, expressed concern over the African political class’s inclination to seek medical treatment abroad.
To reverse this trend, he stressed the importance of implementing a comprehensive health scheme, engaging the private sector, facilitating ease of doing business in the healthcare system, providing tax waivers and import duty exemptions, and promoting foreign training for healthcare professionals.
In his words, “There is a need for a health scheme, private sector involvement, ease of doing business in the health system, tax waivers, waivers on import duties, foreign training for the trainers, and political class to use local facilities from primary to tertiary care. However, all of these can only be achieved through proper legislation.”
Urgent legislative measures are necessary to address the challenges in Nigeria’s healthcare system and make local facilities a preferred option for all citizens.
