Tobias Sylvester
Femi Kuti has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to place a ban on politicians and public office holders from seeking medical treatment abroad, in a bid to improve Nigeria’s health sector.
This is coming after President Buhari had come out to lament about the huge amount of money Nigerians spend annually seeking medical care outside the country. According to him, Nigeria loses over N400billion annually to medical tourism.
President Buhari himself spent nearly two weeks with foreign doctors in London to treat an ear infection in 2016 and was later kept from the glare of the public for months treating an undisclosed illness in 2017.
While speaking to the press at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos on Friday, April 5, Femi Kuti said it speaks volume that the president would seek treatment abroad, because it shows he doesn’t trust the healthcare system of a nation he leads. He said:
“The president doesn’t trust his life in the hands of any hospital in this country. That speaks volume.
“This should be this government’s first agenda to even do one general hospital to international standard and it should be a law by now that every government official cannot go for treatment out of this country no matter what’s wrong with them because we are forced to use those facilities.”
Kuti said public office holders cannot be allowed to continue to remain in power while doing nothing to improve the fortunes of the people. He said forcing politicians to use the facilities of the country would ensure massive improvement. He said:
“I use my profession (as an example); I cannot give you a bad concert, that’s the end of my career. And these people stay in office, taking these huge salaries. We all watch them on TV, they’re clowns.
“A topic so important to the nation, look how long it’s taking them to deal with because their children are not in this country. Because they too don’t need the healthcare of this country.
“If all their children were forced to go to the government schools that the poor people go to, you’ll see that the federal government schools will be the best schools in this country.
“If it was in the constitution that every politican or anybody serving public office must go to any general hospital for treatment, you’ll see how fast they’ll do the hospitals and that is what we must demand.
“When you’re serving the people of this country, it must be in the constitution that you and your family must use all the facilities of this country.”
