The Senate should amend the Nigerian Constitution to stop the President, governors, members of the National Assembly, and other public office holders from seeking medical treatment abroad with taxpayers’ money.
President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Professor Innocent Ujah, stated this during an interview with Channels Television on Friday.
He granted the interview a day after the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs asked State House officials to equip the clinic at the Presidential Villa to ensure President Muhammadu Buhari would have no need to travel abroad for medical treatment.
“What the Senate is saying, in my own opinion, is purely political. It has no force of law. If they want it to have force of law, they should enact it in the Constitution; amend the Constitution and make it a law,” the NMA president said.
He added, “What we need to know is that nobody can be prevented from accessing health from anywhere in the world, but it should not be at government expenses.
“I think that is the most important thing. The second thing is that they have talked about funds for the State House clinic; that money has not been released.”
Professor Ujah believes the position of the lawmakers is not new as the NMA has previously called for the improvement of the nation’s health sector to discourage public office holders from embarking on medical trips abroad.
He added that if the State House clinic has been certified not good enough for the President, it should be upgraded with the provision of needed equipment and personnel.
According to the NMA president, it will be unwise to say people should not access facilities in other places, especially when such is done with personal money.
He, however, stressed the need for the government to strengthen the nation’s health system to respond to the challenges of the people, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and thereafter.
“If it is passed into law, then that will be operational because making a statement like that has no force of law,” Professor Ujah insisted.
He added, “We are saying the State House clinic is not good enough for the President to be attended to and, therefore, it is only when the place is upgraded, facilities are available, human capacity development is improved, equipment are bought, installed and functional, that we can clearly make that statement and it is not only for the President, it is for all of them, including the senators, members of the House of Representatives, and others.”
