The recent disclosure by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, that President Bola Tinubu was committed to eliminating medical tourism is the right foot forward in reforming Nigeria’s health sector.
The plan will also save the nation an estimated $2.3 billion spent on medical tourism by Nigerians annually and, to a large extent, stem the brain drain syndrome in the health sector.
The minister, who stated this when he visited the National Eye Centre, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital and National Ear Care Centre in Kaduna for routine supervision of equipment, explained that President Tinubu increased the budgetary allocation for health this year with the sole aim of eliminating medical tourism.
Salako noted that the budgetary allocation will reduce the cost of controlled drugs and other medical consumables via issuing of waiver and a holistic change of mechanism in the recruitment process and addressing the japa syndrome.
In a move to walk its talk, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approved N10.299 billion for the procurement of diagnostic kits for diabetes, anti-retroviral drugs for resistant HIV/AIDS patients, antibiotics, anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic medications.
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, who briefed newsmen after the FEC meeting in Abuja, said government intervention in the health sector was in line with the president’s aspiration to ensure that Nigerians get access to quality and affordable health services.
According to him, out of the total sum, N997 million was earmarked for another procurement of anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients that are having resistant, N2 billion for the diagnostic kits for diabetes and N4.5 billion for the procurement of medical commodities such as antibiotics, anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic medications.
The sum also includes N2.1 billion for the procurement of a mobile X-ray machine for the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi as well as the rehabilitation and equipping of the hospital with a computerised tomography Cat scan and 64 slice CT scan. FEC also approved N10.2 billion for various products that are linked to enhancing the accessibility and affordability of health commodities and health services by Nigerians.
Pate said: “The first category was the third line anti-retroviral drugs. A few weeks ago, we approved the first line anti-retroviral drugs, second and third line for those who are resistant, Nigeria is putting forth resources, almost N997 million contract to procure the third line anti-retroviral drugs for those who are HIV infected.
“I believe you will understand the importance of this, given the changes in the global health financing and moving towards most of domestic financing to allow Nigerians to continue on treatment as they require. The second category is the procurement that was approved for locally manufactured diagnostic kits for diabetes. Diabetes is a major issue in our country. It’s among the fastest growing segment”.
President Tinubu had previously indicated that the country needs to have a medical relief programme to lower the cost for other types of medical commodities, adding that the antibiotics, anti-hypertensive and anti diabetic medications are among the approval beyond the test kits.
The minister explained: “Those are also worth N4.5 billion, which will be procured and distributed to help lower the cost. These are also commodities that are manufactured by local manufacturers here in Nigeria. So, we are beginning to pull the demand and patronise our local manufacturers. That’s one category of the approvals by the FEC today.
“The second approval was with one of our largest teaching hospitals. That’s the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi, for which approval was given for the procurement of a mobile X-ray machine, and the rehabilitation and equipping of a computerised tomography Cat scan, a 64-slice CT scan amounting to N2.1 billion in total for this hospital.
“The diagnostic services and clinical care Nigerians will receive in that hospital will be of the highest quality that we can make it and it serves as a referral not only in the state where it is located, but also in the region where it is located. Those are the two main items that the FEC considered, which are in line with the transformation in Nigeria’s health sector Mr President has been pursuing and we are relentlessly executing.”
Blueprint commends the efforts of the federal government in curbing medical tourism which has been one of the major drain pipes of the nation’s scarce foreign exchange and its consequential massive devaluation of the naira.
A report from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicating that Nigerians spent a staggering $2.38 million on medical tourism from January to June 2024 is damning and unacceptable.
It is on the backdrop of this undesirable situation that we laud the federal government’s initiatives towards eliminating medical tourism from the country. Worthy of mention is the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, a healthcare expansion programme, through which 120,000 frontline health workers would be retrained.
Interestingly, President Tinubu last week granted automatic employment to 774 fellows of the health programme. Addressing the young fellows tasked with monitoring Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across all the 774 local government areas, Tinubu declared, “You are hired,” pledging employment after their one year tenure.
It is noteworthy that these initiatives including the improvement of healthcare facilities in the country are already yielding the desired result by a gradual reversal of the medical tourism syndrome. Pate affirmed recently that the positioning of Nigeria for medical tourism is attracting patients not just from the West African sub-region, but also from the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States.
While commending the Tinubu renewed hope administration for this breakthrough, we urge the government not to rest on its oars at reforming the nation’s health sector to rank among the world’s best.