Medical Tourism By Nigerians No Longer Tenable, Says Rep

A member of the House of Representatives, Hon Amos Magaji has declared that Nigeria has medical experts that makes medical tourism untenable.

Magaji, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Health Institutions, maintained that there are medical experts in Nigeria, therefore, “we don’t need to travel abroad for medical tourism.”

The lawmaker spoke when he fielded questions from journalists after his committee visited Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) in Bauchi yesterday on oversight functions.

He said, “Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) charges less than a million naira per kidney stone and I think just the ticket to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) or other countries, you spend more than N2 million for a ticket. Come to Bauchi and some of the hospitals we have in Nigeria and enjoy the services, they are cheaper here and the doctors are well-trained.”

Magaji added “Even if you go abroad, who do you meet? Nigerian doctors, you meet an A’isha nurse, a Chinedu doctor, or Kabir the surgeon. So, it’s all ours, so let’s use our facilities and the money we spend abroad, let’s spend it here to develop our own.”

He admitted that the human resources in the health sector remain a serious challenge and stressed that “one cannot stop another from hiring, but the country has devised means to ensure that while a doctor is going, another doctor will replace him/her.

“We look at employment, we have said that all the available local manpower should be absorbed into the main services, then also the quota for residency should also be looked into. Also, we can look at the training of doctors, if many are going and we are training many, in six to seven years, we would have surpluses, even if they go, we won’t have the problem we are encountering now,” the lawmaker said.

The chief medical director of ATBUTH, Prof Yusuf Bara Jibrin, said some of the challenges militating against the hospital included unstable power supply, and inadequate personnel to run the facility.

He said hitherto the hospital’s electricity bill was below N15 million, but in April, they received electricity bill of about N50 million, and declared that “we don’t have the means for such payment.”

Jibrin said, “So, we need assistance, we need input from the National Assembly (NASS) to assist in getting the legislature to make policy statements or agitation regarding power and can assist in that direction by talking to the executive arm of government to see how they can address the power problem with the hospital.”