The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have called on President Muhammed Buhari to ban political officeholders and other government officials from seeking medical treatment abroad.
Lagos State Chairman of NMA, Dr. Tope Ojo, made this call today, Sunday, September 6 at an event leading to its General Meeting/Scientific conference in Lagos.
Ojo charged the President to issue directives to the heads of various government agencies in the country to ensure that the policy takes effect immediately.
According to him, public officeholders still used public funds to pay for medical treatment in India, United Kingdom and United States for ailments that could be handled effectively in local health facilities.
Ojo said there was a provision for the ban in the National Health Act and failure to do so could amount to a violation of the Act.
He stated, “The ban on overseas medical treatment should be implemented immediately if the president is committed to eradicating corruption. Why should government pay for a treatment that could have been handled in any Nigerian hospital?
“The Federal Government must insist that Nigerians should access health care locally to help generate funds to equip hospitals and also recover the billions of naira that Nigerian patients have paid to develop other countries health care system.”
