President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to travel to
London to receive treatment for his ear infection. One of the
people, who have opened up vehemently on their feelings is
a medical expert, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, who underwent a
successful surgical operation for his ear infection in Nigeria
earlier this year.
He has condemned President Buhari’s decision to seek
treatment for his persistent ear infection at a London
hospital despite the presence of over 250 ear, nose and
throat (ENT) specialists in the country and a National Ear
Centre in Kaduna State.
In an open letter to the president, Mr. Enabulele described
his president’s decision to go on a 10-day medical vacation
to London as a mockery of the change mantra of his
administration and that of the professional competence of
Nigerian doctors.
The president’s trip was informed by the advice of his
personal physician and an Abuja-based ENT specialist, who
recommended further evaluation of his condition.
While admitting that the nature of the persistent ear
infection was not revealed in the statement announcing the
president’s decision to seek medical help abroad, Mr.
Enabulele commended Buhari for disclosing his medical
condition, an action he said is a departure from the practice
of leaders who hide their ailments.
“I am very constrained to state that this foreign medical trip
flies in the face of the federal government’s earlier
declaration of her resolve to halt the embarrassing
phenomenon of outward medical tourism, which by the end
of the year 2013, has led to a humongous capital flight of
about $1 billion, particularly from expenses incurred by
political and public office holders and their accompanying
aides, whose foreign medical trips, most of which are
unnecessary, were financed with tax payers’ resources,” he
emphasized.
Mr. Enabulele said he had variously, through his writings
and public lectures, advised Mr. Buhari to show leadership
by example by ensuring that he and members of his cabinet
use medical expertise and facilities available locally. This,
he said, is expressly stated in Section 46 of the National
Health Act, which seeks to address the abuse of resources
through frivolous foreign medical travels by political and
public office holders.
By opting for treatment abroad, Mr. Enabulele argued that
Mr. Buhari has frittered a big opportunity to give traction to
his vaunted change mantra. His action, he added, will not
inspire confidence in the country’s health sector, which he
said currently boasts medical experts on par with those in
foreign countries, if not even better.
“If the former Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada, could
patronize Nigerian-trained medical experts and medical
facilities here in Nigeria when he unfortunately suffered a
fractured femur following a road traffic accident in 2013, I
see no reason why in 2016, Mr. President could not have
stayed back in Nigeria to attend to his ear infection,” Mr.
Enabulele contended.
The medical expert claimed that most public and political
office holders who seek foreign medical care are treated by
Nigerian-trained doctors, particularly in the United Kingdom,
which has over 3000 Nigerian-trained medical doctors, and
the United States of America, with over 5000. Most of these
foreign-based doctors, Mr. Enabulele added, relocated
abroad because of the government’s repeated failure to
address the various factors that make the local environment
difficult to work in.
“Available records show that in last year (2015) alone, 637
medical doctors emigrated due largely to poor working
conditions and health facilities, insecurity, unpredictable and
poor funding of the Residency Training Programme,
uncompetitive wages and job dissatisfaction,” he stated.
The medical expert suggested that the president should
have used his current medical situation to kick-start the
government’s plan to revamp the country’s health care
system by providing required medical equipment to enable
locally-trained trained ENT specialists to treat him and later
use the same facilities to attend to other Nigerians with
similar conditions.
“In line with my patriotic commitment to the Nigerian dream,
I submitted myself for a highly skilled and successful ENT
surgical intervention conducted in Nigeria in the month of
April in 2016. As a trained medical specialist, I believe that
those ENT specialists and medical experts, and many others
in Nigeria, who handled my situation then are skilled
enough, and with the right equipment in place can handle
any complicated ENT problem in Nigeria,” Mr. Enabulele
said.
Source: SaharaReporters
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