by ‘Jola Sotubo

President Goodluck Jonathan has urged civil servants to refrain from travelling abroad for medical treatment.

The president also added that the trend was inimical to the progress of the country and that the federal government was determined to put a stop to it.

President Jonathan stated this during the 6th Annual General Meeting and International Scientific Conference of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers.

The Daily Independent reports:

Jonathan stated that medical tourism is one of the inevitable fallouts from globalisation that has transformed the world into the global village, but lamented that it (medical tourism) was being misconstrued by many Nigerians.

“While some of our compatriots look at medical tourism out of Nigeria from the perspective that it is indicative of inadequacies in our healthcare delivery system, a recent analysis by the federal ministry of health brought to light that majority of the conditions for which Nigerian public servants sought healthcare (diagnosis and treatment) abroad for a three-year period, can adequately be handled in Nigeria.”

Jonathan who was represented by the Minister of Health, Prof. Chukwu Onyebuchi, said lack of information about locations where these services may be accessed, as one of the reasons for the misconception.

He said already, a directive has been given to the Minister of Health to ask the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to, in short order to come up with new guidelines for publication of ethically acceptable information about public and private health facilities across the country.

“Other measures government has adopted to reverse medical tourism include the stimulation and facilitation of private sector engagement in the healthcare industry,” Jonathan added.

While commending the association for the courage so far exhibited in health entrepreneurship, he charged participants at the conference to exploit ‘the numerous incentives on offer by government and adopt new business methods that would upgrade and reposition your practices for high-end diagnosis and therapeutic services.

He stated that the relevant agencies of government, including the federal Ministry of Health, federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council, the Tony-Elumelu-led Ministerial Committee on Private Health Sector Engagement shall provide guidance for the association.