Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

Nigeria Losing $1bn Annually on Medical Tourism – Minister

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has said that over $1bn is being spent by Nigerians on medical tourism abroad annually.

He stated this on Thursday during a visit to the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, adding that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would discourage the practice.

Ehanire said the government would make health care delivery available to majority of Nigerians.

According to the minister, “We are losing estimated $1bn on Nigerians going abroad to get treatment. We have tertiary hospitals that should be good enough to handle what most Nigerians go abroad for.

“What we should do is to ensure training and retraining of staff, provide equipment and ensure proper modern service delivery. We must have patient-centred health care service.”

He explained further that the Federal Government, despite the economic crunch, was trying hard to mobilise resources from all areas to fund the health sector amid the competing needs and priorities of the nation.

The minister, who said 90 per cent of last year’s budget was on recurrent expenditure, said the nation must depart from such in order to move forward.

He added, “The Federal Government would henceforth ensure huge allocation of resources to the provision of capital projects that would create more employment opportunities for Nigerians.”

Ehanire, however, warned medical personnel at the FMC against embarking on strike, claiming that incessant industrial actions would reduce people’s confidence in the health sector.

The Chief Medical Director, FMC, Abeokuta, Dr. Oladapo Sotiloye, said the hospital needed funding for some of its vital capital projects, which include completion of water schemes, 60-bedded maternity complex, internal roads and medical equipment among others.

 

__________ 

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

Nigeria

Ten bodies were recovered Wednesday after a boat carrying more than 100 women and children broke apart on a river in northern Nigeria, a...

News

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the deployment of advanced technology to tackle insecurity in the South-East. Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma, disclosed this to...

News

Popular Nigerian human rights activist and co-founder of the Centre for Civil Liberty, Ariyo-Dare Atoye has died. He was aged 42. Atoye died in...

News

Some young Nigerians besieged the Lekki Tollgate on Thursday morning,  amid heavy police presence. Nigerian artistes, Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana, and Adebowale ‘Mr Macaroni’ Adedayo,...

Copyright ©