Aisha Buhari
The likable wife of the president of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria took ill not long ago and was told to jump on the next available
flight to London to be treated medically. While playing to the gallery
at a recent meeting in Abuja, she told the whole world that she refused
to be flown abroad. She probably refused to be flown abroad simply
because what was wrong with her was not life threatening! If it was, she
possibly would have requested whoever was in charge of the medicare of
the first family to fly her out pronto.What if the Britons never developed their health care sector and
allowed it to get to the same comatose state ours is presently in, where
would they have taken Mr. President to when he took ill? It is a big
shame that a 57 year old nation is still toying with the healthcare of
her citizens. There are too many Nigerians who die needlessly daily. The
only fault of theirs was to be born in a nation that does not care a
hoot about their health.
When the regrettable news about the Aso Rock clinic came out, I was
not moved one bit. I was not surprised that the ‘celebrated’ clinic
does not have a common syringe! You know why? It is because the same
ineffective, corrupt and feeble system drives everything in our dear
country. If there is no order on our dusty streets, do not also expect
to find it in the most privileged place in our polity. This is why our
politicians are fond of traveling outside the country, even to treat
headache!
I am writing this way because I have been to so many hospitals in
Nigeria and I have a first-hand experience of what the masses are going
through daily in a nation called “the giant of Africa.” The last time I
was inside a hospital, I said to those who were with me on that if they
could afford to travel beyond the shores of Nigeria for medical
treatment that they should please do so.
A few years back, one of my friends took his wife to one of our
hospitals. He dropped her off and quickly dashed to the office to go
take care of an urgent task that he was not allowed to delegate. A few
minutes after he got to his office, he called to know if his wife had
been attended to. But she informed him of still being at the reception,
waiting to be attended to. An hour later, the story remained the same.
Some hours even after that, the sitation was unchanged. My friend
ultimately left his office and met his wife the same way he left her in
the morning! Finding her in excruciating pain, he was forced to make
some noise, only after she was attended to and wheeled into an operating
theatre. If one made an effort to travel round our greatly valued
country, it could be found that the story is virtually the same from
place to place.
Each time this and other raging national issues are raised, the
first thing our professional politicians say is something in this
manner: “You know that we are still young as a nation. With time, we
would get it right. You know America, German, England…have been around
for so long a time…” Each time I am told something like this, I always
get very upset. Do we need 800 years as a nation before we can be able
to install an excellence-driven health care system for our people? Are
we re-inventing the wheel? Can’t we just copy what the Germans have
perfected and implement it here? Instead of shamelessly traveling to
countries where their health care systems are working, can’t we
reproduce here what is making these countries work?
In 1970, Oman’s health care system was not performing well, just as
ours is not performing well right now. The child mortality rate was
very high. But major government investments proved to be successful in
improving system performance. Oman’s success in recent times shows that
tremendous strides can be accomplished in a relatively short period of
time. How did Oman move from where they were to where they are today in a
context of excellence-driven health care system? Instead of wasting
scarce money to send people to both Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia, let us
send some of our intelligent men and women to Oman to understudy them
and reproduce this in Nigeria. It can be done, if we are serious as a
people.
***
Ademola Adeoye is a public affairs analyst.
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