The Federal Government has justified the foreign medical trips taken by political leaders, stating that individuals are entitled to seek treatment anywhere in the world.
This assertion was made by Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare.
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“Don’t conflate the quality of our healthcare system and what it has to offer and the choices that individuals can make for various reasons. Some may choose because they’ve got a provider, or they have other things,” Pate said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“Tourism is something that everybody has a right to choose wherever he wants to go and you cannot constrain people. We are not in a communist system where you say, ‘Everybody has to be treated here’.”
Nigerian leaders have faced significant criticism over the years for seeking medical treatment abroad.
Detractors argue that this trend reflects poorly on the nation’s healthcare system and suggests that these leaders lack confidence in its quality.
In May, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported that Nigerians spent $3.82 million on healthcare services abroad from January to December 2023.
However, the minister contends that Nigeria’s healthcare system is on the rise, citing the presence of top professionals working within the country, which counters the prevailing narrative.
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“I think if there’s one thing that I want you and your viewers to take away is that there is a disconnect between the prevailing narrative and facts on the ground; the perception that the elites can just walk away and $2 billion goes out in terms of outbound medical tourism,” the minister said.
“But then you have to look closely at our health facilities – federal tertiary institutions that are being reformed, what they are able to do – we have world-class professionals, some are here in Nigeria and some are Nigerians in the diaspora who are coming back here to provide services.
“But the narrative easily gets built that we don’t have anything here; as if we want to lose respect for ourselves.”
Pate insisted that “Everyone, whether rich or poor, whether powerful or weak, has the right to the privacy of their medical records.
“From medical ethics, the patient is king and the patient has the right to his or her privacy.“
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