No end to Nigerian outbound medical tourism

The same leaders that promised an end to outbound medical tourism go abroad for treatment.

The same leaders that promised an end to outbound medical tourism are going abroad for treatment regularly, with the president of Nigeria spending months in the United Kingdom.

President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly promised an end to outbound medical tourism, it was even an electoral pledge. But he refuses to answer questions on how much the state has paid for his many tips to the UK for medical care. Nor has he put any timescale on the promise to end medical tourism and to send an executive bill to the National Assembly to ban publicly funded medical tourism.

Vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, spoke out against the substantial sums spent by Nigerians traveling abroad to receive medical treatment; “We want to stop that trend because it’s draining our reserves.” But his timing was poor as it was days after Muhammadu Buhari returned from a three-month medical break in the U.K, where he received treatment for an undisclosed ailment. After many comments, the organisation that sent out the speech claimed that it had got the quotes wrong.

A pro-democracy and non-governmental organisation, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), wants the National Assembly to pass the bill that would ban medical tourism.

Trying to tell Nigerians that they have excellent hospitals so should not go overseas, but at the same time saying they do not trust hospitals or doctors to treat them, is a fine tightrope act for top politicians.

Nigeria’s government is adopting a “Do as we say, not as we do,” approach to medical tourism.