Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and other tiers of government in the country to stop officials from using public funds for overseas medical treatment. President of Abuja chapter of the association, Fatima Mairami, made the call in the nation’s capital yesterday.
Mairami said the practice was borne out of corruption detrimental to growing the nation’s health system and facilities, and drains its dwindling economy.
At the Annual General Meeting/Scientific Conference organised by the FCT association, the doctor said: “Whoever goes outside for medical tourism, if you are paying the bill yourself, it is not an easy task. But, what has happened before was a lot of corruption. People cheated on the government, used public resources.
That is why it is easy for them to go outside without feeling the pain. “But, by the time we make it mandatory that everybody must get healthcare within the nation, as long as we can provide such services, and if you want to still go abroad, you must pay out of your pocket.
Then, you will see the rate of medical tourism will dwindle as not many people would be able to afford it.” She described medical tourism as a thorn in the flesh of the nation.
She also decried brain drain in the nation’s medical system and called for solution to the problem, arguing that anyone that could afford treatment abroad could go there and avoid the nation’s public hospitals.
Fielding questions from journalists, President of the association, Kayode Obembe, restated the call for publicprivate- partnership in managing the nation’s public hospitals. He argued that private hospitals succeed more in service delivery than those run by government alone.
His words: “I want to clearly state that publicprivate partnership is the way forward. The earlier we address this issue, the better. We cannot concentrate all our services on everything within the context of the public sector.
We must see how we can collaborate with the private sector… there is an element of commitment in privatisation. “I don’t think it is easy to hear that private hospitals in Abuja have downed tools.
I have not heard it. Private sector is driven by determination to achieve excellence. And, it is in that area that I want us to explore, if there is going to be collaboration between the public and the private sector.
I think it will be better for the society. “In United States of America where many of these people that have money go for check-up and also keep our oil money, many of the hospitals there are privately run; and they are delivering the goods.
“The problem in Nigeria is that when we go to these nations, we don’t copy what is happening there and bring it home. I think we should do something about that,” he added. Obembe also said the NMA was making efforts to ensure that peace prevailed in the sector.
By: MARCUS FATUNMOLE:
National Mirror
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