Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ear infection and a trip to London?

The case of two great patriots, Gani Fawehinmi and Dora Akuyili reminds one of the need to be extremely careful when entrusting one's life into the hands of some medical personnel, and the implications of wrong diagnosis. The two great Nigerians probably would be alive today had they not been rather sentimental on issues of patriotism. Fawehinmi allowed his infection to be diagnosed and treated here in Nigeria. Unfortunately, it was too late by the time he got to know the truth. He died of wrong diagnosis and many years of inappropriate treatment, ditto Dora. Perhaps it was safer for President Buhari not to take such risks at this critical stage of Nigeria's history when he is most needed, perhaps not. One is curious, however, that a battery of ENT experts could actually recommend that he should go for further treatment abroad. It is worrisome that that kind of decision should be arrived at, despite a dedicated ENT  specialist Hospital in Kaduna State? 

But it is also possible that the right equipment was just not available anywhere in the country. It reminds me of a cardiac case of a senior Professor at the University of Ibadan some years back. The Cardiologist in charge of the case ended up transferring the patient to an American hospital where the Nigerian Cardiologist along with a team performed the surgery successfully. Reason? Although the Nigerian was, and still is, a respected world renowned Cardiologist, the appropriate equipment for the type of surgery was non-existent in any Nigerian Teaching Hospital. I guess that this could have been similar to the President's circumstance. Should this be the case, President Buhari could not be blamed for his overseas treatment as Ogbeni Kadiri rightly pointed out. After all, he had explored the possibility of getting medical treatment here at home, and his travel was on the prompting of the physicians. That again rules out the insinuation that the President did not trust anyone for his treatment as one of the contributors on this topic opined. It would have been crass foolishness on the part of Mr President had he turned down experts' advice on his health situation so as to be a hero (?)

What, perhaps, should be of interest to patriotic Nigerians is where on earth has the huge sums of money based on the yearly  budgetary allocation for Aso Rock Presidential clinic and other specialist hospitals disappeared to? Your guess is as good as mine. That to me is the real issue which must be addressed. ‎Besides, we need to join hands in the anti-corruption war and ensure that all those who contributed to bringing the current economic woes on the nation are severely dealt with. This is not because it is an APC agenda, it is worth embracing in the interest of the Nigeria project. Similarly, we must insist and prevail on the Federal Government, that emphasis should  now be on building strong institutions that prevent such misconduct as corruption, that our Rome may be room indeed!

Ademola O. Dasylva ‎

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

From: Salimonu Kadiri Sent: Monday, 13 June 2016 00:02 To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com Reply To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ear infection and a trip to London?

Before ascending Presidential power in Nigeria on 29 May 2015, Mohammadu Buhari promised, among other ailments troubling Nigeria, to end medical tourism during his four years tenure in office. Thus, when it was announced that Buhari was to undertake a ten-day medical trip to London to treat air infection, the intellectual elites are quick to accuse him of reneging on his promise to end medical tourism during his four years tenure in office as President of Nigeria. To the intellectual elites, the dilapidation of Nigeria's medical facilities in the past thirty-six years is like a case of head-ache to which Buhari would apply a pill in the evening and all Nigerian hospitals would be rehabilitated in the morning. If not how can it escape the mind of the intellectual elites that before Buhari can stop medical tourism, medical facilities in Nigeria must first be brought to international standard and that cannot happen overnight or within a year in office as the President.

 

The former President of Nigerian Medical Association and current Vice President of Commonwealth Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele Monday, in rebuking Buhari for seeking medical treatment in London wrote, "Without prejudice to the expert recommendation of President's Personal Physicians and the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist said to have examined and treated him in Abuja, I consider it a national shame of immense proportions that Mr. President had to be recommended for foreign medical care despite the presence of over 250 ENT Specialists and Professors in Nigeria, as well as a National Ear centre located in Kaduna State."

 

Criticism of Buhari would have made sense, if he had woken up one morning and decided to seek medical care for his ailing ear abroad, but Dr. Enabulele is telling us that he had submitted himself to  Nigerian Specialists in Abuja for treatment and he was recommended to travel abroad for treatment. Should Buhari ignore professional advice of specialists in medicine who had admitted their inability to treat ear patient, Buhari? Dr.Enabulele  considered it a national shame that Buhari was recommended for foreign medical care of his ears by Nigerian Specialists and Professors in Ear, Nose and Throat, but should the national shame of big academic titles without corresponding ability to match production to paper qualifications be limited/restricted to medical profession alone? Is it not a national shame that Nigeria is the only crude oil producing country that depends on fuel import to meet her domestic needs? Is Dr. Enabulele proud of Minister of Power who was producing darkness for Nigerians in spite of the fact that he was a Professor of Electricity? What type of Engineers do we have that had consumed billions of dollars at Ajaokuta Steel Mill Limited since 1961 without being able to produce any steel from our iron ore deposit? The list of what all Nigerians should be a-shamed, of as far as our national infra-structural and industrial development are concerned, is lengthy but if truth should prevail, Buhari is not responsible for those national shames.

S. Kadiri   
 

---

Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2016 09:49:21 -0500
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ear infection and a trip to London?
From: ukaga001@umn.edu
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

One would think that realizing the economic and foreign exchange situations are worse than initial assessment calls for even more determination to keep the promise to not tolerate and engage in medical tourism, as the need to conserve scarce has become more critical. So your argument, Segun, kinda turns logic on it's head. To be credible and to help Buhari succeed, we his supporters must try to be more objective, honest and logical. After all government by denial & propaganda never works in the end.

On Jun 12, 2016 9:20 AM, "Segun Ogungbemi" <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:

Nwabuzor,

You have the right to express your opinion the way you feel. I am not enthused by your argument. When President Bihari made it public "that no medical tourism would be tolerated by his government," did he know that the economy of the nature was that bad? Did he know that the level of corruption was so endemic in the country? Did know that fighting Boko Haram insurgency could not end in December 2015 as he envisioned? I am not a spokesman for Mr. President but reason should make us see beyond political ideal of the man from mere rhetoric. 

The Change he want cannot fully be realized in one year. It takes much longer. It requires diligent panning and proper execution. 

Don't forget the adage which says, "slow and steady wins the race."

 I will agree with you however that 

President Buhari should have not made generous promises without knowing the nature of the state finances. 

Segun Ogungbemi

Sent from my iPhone 

On Jun 11, 2016, at 9:57 PM, Nwabuzor <wabuz@comcast.net> wrote:

It is clear that the APC-led Federal Government is a fraud. PMB trip to London for treatment of an ear infection is a national shame and a deviation from the declaration that no medical tourism would be tolerated by his government.

Where are the APC apologists? The often touted statement that Buhari is a patriot has been shown to be a lie. What a country?

On Jun 11, 2016 5:34 PM, John Mbaku <jmbaku@weber.edu> wrote:

>

> What is critical here is Falola's third point and not necessarily the absence of specialty care. What is the poor farmer from some village in Nigeria to do when he needs to repair a hernia and there is no public hospital within a 100 miles?
>
> On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 10:06 AM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:

>>

>>  Sometimes good can come out of illness. At last, we are now aware that Nigeria needs medical specialists , specializations, foot and mouth disease etc...
>>
>> Whilst we may be raising the hue and cry precipitated by President Buhari's trip to the UK, ostensibly to get some medical treatment for his ear (his ailing ear as the catalyst now responsible for galvanizing some of the intelligentsia to action - at least word action and criticism of the sorry state of medical standards in Nigeria) the people of Sierra Leone know that in some areas of medicine Nigeria is not that lacking and they are still grateful for the help they received from the sleeping giant, in their fight against the killer Ebola – when the headlines were : Nigerian doctors help fight Ebola in Sierra Leone
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thursday, 9 June 2016 15:26:39 UTC+2, Emma. 'Ozili wrote:

>>>
>>> Enabulele,  Obinna, and Falola has spoken for all Nigerians and I hope that Mr. President should take the opportunity of this fallout and arrange for immediate equipping of an efficient modern hospital in each of the six geopolitical zones.  We already have existing Federal university Teaching Hospitals to house the programs. 
>>> A word is enough for the wise. This incident may well be the call alarm for reversal of the brain drain.
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from Samsung Mobile.
>>>
>>>
>>> -------- Original message --------
>>> From: Okechukwu Ukaga <ukag...@umn.edu>
>>> Date:06/07/2016 12:33 PM (GMT-05:00)
>>> To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
>>> Cc:
>>> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ear infection and a trip to London?
>>>
>>> http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36468154
>>> Nigeria's Buhari 'broke promise to end medical tourism'
>>>
>>>
>>> "A leading Nigerian doctor has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of reneging on a promise to end "medical tourism" by seeking treatment in the UK.
>>>
>>> Nigerians spent $1bn (£690m) on foreign medical trips in 2013, most of which was unnecessary, said Dr Osahon Enabulele.
>>>
>>> Nigerian politicians were mostly treated by Nigerian doctors in the UK, he added.
>>>
>>> Mr Buhari flew to London on Monday to be treated for an ear infection.
>>>
>>> It is unclear where the 73-year-old would be treated for what his office described as a "persistent" infection.
>>>
>>> Africa Live: More on this and other stories
>>>
>>> Dr Enabulele, vice-president of the Commonwealth Medical Association, said it was a "national shame" that Mr Buhari went to the UK for treatment when Nigeria had more than 250 ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, as well as a National Ear Centre.
>>>
>>> Mr Buhari should lead by example by using Nigerian doctors and facilities, and ensure government officials do not go abroad on "frivolous" medical trips, he added.
>>>
>>> The UK had more than 3,000 Nigerian-trained doctors, and the US more than 5,000, Dr Enabule said, accusing the government of failing to address the brain drain by improving working conditions and health centres.
>>>
>>> Mr Buhari, in a speech delivered on his behalf to the Nigeria Medical Association in April, said the government's hard-earned cash would not be spent on treating officials overseas, especially when Nigeria had the expertise.
>>>
>>> Nigeria is one of Africa's biggest oil producers but most of its citizens live in poverty.
>>>
>>> Mr Buhari took office last year on a promise to tackle corruption and waste."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 6, 2016 at 12:26 PM, Okechukwu Ukaga <ukag...@umn.edu> wrote:

>>>>

>>>> http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/06/commonwealth-doctors-condemn-buharis-medical-trip-to-london/
>>>>
>>>> By Chioma Obinna
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>> "Vice President, Commonwealth Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele Monday expressed disappointment at the news of President Muhammadu Buhari's10-Day medical trip to London for an Ear, Nose and Throat, E.N.T, infection, saying, "it as a tragic blot on Nigeria's collective professional and National image." President Muhammadu Buhari The former President, Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, who condemned frequent medical trip by government officials, said Nigeria has suffered a great loss to medical tourism in recent past. "I am very constrained to state that this foreign medical trip flies in the face of the Federal Government's earlier declaration of her resolve to halt the embarrassing phenomenon of outward medical tourism, which as at the end of the year 2013 had led to a humongous capital flight of about $1billion dollars, particularly from expenses incurred by political and public office holders and their accompanying aides, whose foreign medical trips most of which are unnecessary, were financed with tax payers' resources", he said. Osahon who advised the president Buhari to live by example at curbing medical tourism and saving Nigerians this great loss incurred through numerous trips abroad for medication stated that the President has lost a golden opportunity to assert his change mantra through a clear demonstration of leadership by example, by staying back to receive medical treatment in Nigeria. He added that receiving treatment in Nigeria would inspire confidence in the health sector which currently boasts of medical experts that favourably compare with medical experts anywhere in the world, if not better. "Mr. President should make a clear public pronouncement on his resolve to show leadership by example with respect to the utilization of the medical expertise and facilities that abound in Nigeria by him and other members of the Federal Executive Council, particularly in concrete expression of section 46 of the National Health Act which seeks to address the abuse of tax payers' resources through frivolous foreign medical travels embarked upon by political and public office holders". He said: "It is on record that most public and political office holders who seek foreign medical care abroad are handled by Nigerian trained doctors in foreign lands particularly in the United Kingdom which has over 3000 Nigerian trained medical doctors, United States of America with over 5000 Nigerian trained medical doctors, amongst other foreign countries, most of whom left the shores of Nigeria on account of government's perennial failure to address the various push and pull factors which have consistently driven this yearly brain drain phenomenon in Nigeria. "Available records show that last year alone, 637 medical doctors emigrated due largely to poor working conditions and health facilities, insecurity, unpredictable and poor funding of Residency Training Programme, uncompetitive wages and job dissatisfaction." The former NMA president said; "Without prejudice to the expert recommendation of President's Personal Physician and the ENT specialist said to have examined and treated him in Abuja, I consider it a national shame of immense proportions that Mr. President had to be recommended for foreign medical care despite the presence of over 250 ENT specialists and professors in Nigeria, as well as a National Ear Centre located in Kaduna state." He recommended that the presidency should consider other options such as inviting a consortium of Nigerian trained ENT specialists in Nigeria to Abuja to re-evaluate and treat hi. If it is determined that the medical expertise is not available in Nigeria, any identified Nigerian trained ENT specialist practicing anywhere in the world should be invited to Abuja for re-evaluating and treating him. "If it is a case where the health facilities/equipment are unavailable then the President should have used his current medical situation, though unfortunate, to commence the Federal Government's plan to re-equip Nigerian hospitals with modern state-of-the art health facilities, by ordering for the needed medical equipment to enable the locally available Nigerian trained ENT specialists to attend to him, and thereafter use same facilities to attend to other Nigerians with similar conditions. "Indeed, it will be a win-win situation for Nigeria as Mr. President will not only get managed with the imported medical facilities and expertise; he would save Nigeria the capital flight that would result from his planned foreign medical trip."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 4:21 PM, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

>>>>>

>>>>> I don't want to talk about a sick president when he needs our prayer but about the health system of a country as big as Nigeria that cannot handle this, even if it involves surgery.
>>>>>
>>>>> First, it is laughable that enormous expenses have to be devoted to an ear infection.
>>>>>
>>>>> Second, it shows the level of developmental degeneracy.
>>>>>
>>>>> Third, it shows the degree to which ordinary citizens are short-changed.
>>>>>
>>>>> Unless of course there is more to it than an ear infection, this is an embarrassment.
>>>>> TF
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
>
>
>
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