Medical tourism, which refers to people traveling abroad to receive treatment, is having adverse effects on Nigeria‘s healthcare system.
According to a 2021 report by Hope Alive Health Initiative, Nigeria spends U.S.$1.25 billion on medical tourism in a year.
The report also revealed that 9,000 medical tourists travel from the country monthly, with 5,000 of them visiting India for medical tourism.
In fact, to highlight how embarrassing this situation is, President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2016, traveled to London to see an ear, nose and throat specialist for a persistent ear infection.
This shows the extent of lack of trust in the country’s healthcare system which has been damaged by the crop of leaders Nigeria has had; leaders who have failed to prioritise key sectors like health and education.
A popular medical doctor and influencer, Chinonso Egemba, popularly known as ‘Aproko Doctor’ on social media, recently shared his experience with a brain tumour and how he was treated by a doctor in Nigeria.
In a tweet, he said Nigeria just needs more investment in its health sector.
It was Dr. Tayo Ojo, a neurosurgeon here in Nigeria that did the surgery. So many people begged me to leave the country and get the surgery done but something kept me back here because I still had trust in us.
We just need more investment in our health sector. pic.twitter.com/ljnmac4xgJ
— Dr. Chinonso Egemba (@aproko_doctor) January 16, 2023
The doctor, in a video he shared on social media, also expressed his hope for Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
‘So to be honest, there were people who asked me why I did the surgery in Nigeria and at some point I had no answer for them’, he said.
‘But I think we have good hands here. It wasn’t necessarily the funds, I think it was more about trust, I did not trust the foreign doctors I was going to see because I knew that we could do it here’.
This message coming from a medical doctor in Nigeria indicates that if the government decides to invest in proper funding for healthcare and revamp the sector, there are competent medical professionals in Nigeria who can carry out the complex surgeries that the wealthy and ‘political elite’ travel out of the country to do.
The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) recently condemned medical tourism, especially among the political class in Nigeria.
AMLSN further said Nigeria would become a tourism destination if the country invests the
huge amount of money spent on medical tourism in its health sector.
At the moment, better healthcare facilities are only available at private hospitals and the average Nigerian cannot afford them because of the high cost.
However, if government hospitals are better equipped, then every Nigerian, irrespective of class, can have access to quality healthcare.
The federal and state governments need to prioritise investing in and revamping Nigeria’s healthcare sector, as this will also reduce the rate of brain drain in the sector which has escalated to an alarming proportion.
Photo source: Lagoon Hospital
