Why African leaders like Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari go overseas for medical treatment?

Africa’s political elite should be fixing their own countries’ health systems instead.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in London on Tuesday morning, after jetting off from Abuja on Monday to the United Kingdom for a routine medical check-up, according to a statement issued by the Nigerian presidency.

A tweet by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said that Buhari was expected back in the country in the “second week of November.”

Prior to leaving for the UK, Buhari presided over an emergency meeting with security chiefs at the State House, Nigerian publication Punch News reported on Monday.

President Buhari leaves for London October 31, 2022, for routine medical checkup. He returns to the country 2nd week of November, 2022.

— Femi Adesina (@FemAdesina) October 31, 2022

Buhari’s latest medical trip follows several such visits since he assumed office in 2015; spending at least 212 days abroad, according to Punch News.

What is it about the healthcare system back home that these leaders would rather seek treatment outside their respective countries?

Over the decades, we have witnessed several African leaders opt for medical treatment abroad, the leaders include, former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe who frequently took trip to Singapore for medical purposes, Angola’s Eduardo Dos Santos who was in Spain and Benin’s Patrice Talon’s Paris trips, to name but a few.

The healthcare systems in many African countries including Zimbabwe, Angola and Benin leave much left to be desired.

According to a report on Africa’s progress toward achieving universal health coverage (UHC) released in 2021, only half of Africa’s citizens (52%) – some 615 million people – have access to the healthcare they need.

In 2016, Africans spent over USD$6 billion on outbound treatment. Nigeria was a major contributor. Its citizens spend over USD$1 billion annually on what’s become known as medical tourism, according to Tahiru Azaaviele Liedong, Assistant Professor of Strategy, University of Bath.

Liedong says that it can be argued that private citizens opting to seek medical help in other countries don’t owe the public any explanation, because it’s their own affair.

“But medical tourism among Africa’s political elite is cause for concern, because they are responsible for the development of proper health care for the citizens of their countries,” according to an article he wrote in the Conversation in 2017.

He argues that the reason for African leaders going abroad for medical attention, is their lack of confidence in the health systems they oversee, and they can afford the trips given that the expenses are paid for by taxpayers.

“The result is that they have little motivation to change the status quo. Medical tourism by African leaders and politicians could therefore be one of the salient but overlooked causes of Africa’s poor health systems and infrastructure.”

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