Nigerians Detained In
India Hospitals Over
Unpaid Bills – Health
Minister — January 20, 2014 Piqued by the loss in capital flight among
political office holders seeking medical
treatment in foreign countries, President
Goodluck Jonathan has approved more
stringent measures before such approval
for medical tourism among public officials. The minister of health Professor
Onyebuchi  Chukwu is now to directly
supervise such approvals. Available statistics indicated that over
N78 billion is annually lost through capital
flight by Nigerians and public officials
who go abroad for medical treatment. Besides, the minister has expressed
concern at the increasing number of
Nigerians detained in India hospitals and
other countries on account of their
inability to pay for their medical bills,
saying his office has been bombarded with series of letters for assistance. Prof Chukwu, who was in Benin City, the
Edo State capital, to attend the burial
ceremony of the father of the president of
the Nigeria Medical Association, Dr
Osahon Enabulele, made this comment
at a press conference. He also urged Nigeria to take advantage
of the National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS) of the federal government which
he canvased should be made
compulsory for all employers to provide
their workers. Speaking on government’s plans to curb
unnecessary foreign medical trip abroad
by public officials, the minister said:  “We
have people who go abroad and they are
in two classes: number one are people
who are spending their own private money,  whether well-earned or not too
well-earned.  Some are people who are
sponsored by other persons, including
religious bodies. The other are the one
sponsored by government, whether at
local, state or federal government level but it is government sponsoring. “Recently we have done something which
the president decided with the head of
the civil service of the federationat least
at the federal level. Regrettably, most of
the media reports from the states, they
don’t give us statistics because states also sponsor people abroad.  But it is
reported as if it is the federal government
that sponsors people abroad alone.” “ At the federal level, what has been
done in the last two weeks is that rather
than the old system where the permanent
secretary write to the head of service
after a normal medical board,
government decide to sponsor someone abroad or not.  Now, the Minster of
Health must sign but as a minister if
what you are going for can be done in
Nigeria we would not spent public money. “However, we must also recognize the
individual right of human being, if you
have your own money you are free to
seek medical care anywhere. If it is clear
that we cannot help you in Nigeria it
would be wicked of us not to allow you go outside the Country. So, that is what
in the last weeks the President has
blessed and the head of service have
written me, so, we are going to start
implementing that now. Regrettably he added “They are so many
reasons why Nigerian go abroad, one
reason which is not my business is that
we love things which are foreign, how
many of us are eating local rice? In the
last 12 years,  I eat local rice in my house and even when I have a gift of
foreign rice, i usually dash it out. As you
know, we are making efforts; part of the
thing is that we can’t pay for good health
services because it is expensive. People
who go outside the Country don’t patronise government hospitals. “They are some Nigerians detained in
other Countries because they could not
pay for their medical bills , some of
them, their communities have written me
letters for financial assistance because
they cannot come back to Nigeria because they are owing. It is a big
problem.  They are things we have
achieved in the last one year, for more
than 10 years we couldn’t do an open
heart surgery in Nigeria, now two
hospitals are doing it in Enugu and Ibadan