Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, says the fact the President Muhammadu Buhari travelled abroad to seek medical treatment is not an indictment on Nigeria’s health sector, adding that he is not the only person to do so.
Adewole, speaking during an interview on Channels Television, said Buhari may have decided to be treated abroad because he, like many Nigerians, do not want his medical condition exposed.
“I don’t think so (that Buhari’s abroad treatment is an indictment on the health sector),” Adewole said. “There’s also a Nigerian angle to it. Nigerians are so secretive. We also lack data and information management. Let me tell you, the average Nigerian does not want his medical condition exposed.”
But when pressed if that was the chief reason why Buhari went abroad for medical treatment, Adewole said: “I cannot speak for the President”.
“We are making it look as if the President is the only one who goes out,” Adewole continued. “I think that’s wrong. He is not the only one.”
But to show that Buhari has confidence in Nigeria’s health sector, Adewole said the President directed that his son, Yusuf, be treated in Nigeria following his motorbike accident in late 2017, adding that he only went to Germany for rehabilitation
“Let me also tell you that the President asked his son to be treated in Nigeria. Even when people are clamouring that his son should be flown abroad, he said no. He just went to Germany for rehabilitation,” he had his surgery in Nigeria,” he said.
Here are some reasons why President @MBuhari may have sought treatment abroad. And if like me, you thought his son was treated abroad, heres what the Minister of Health says on @CTVHardcopy watch tonight at 8.30pm pic.twitter.com/PyPDs7Fah2
— Esther Ogun-Yusuf (@MaupeO) May 11, 2018