Medical tourism and forex demand in Nigeria on HWN SPOTLIGHT

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN ) recently decried the spate of forex demand by Nigerians seeking medical attention overseas.

Putting the demand at a whopping 15% of the Deposit Money Bank’s total, the forex allocation cannot but exert an invidious pressure on the economy.

The taste for foreign medical attention goes beyond mere Epicureanism or a primitive display of wealth, although this narrow pretext may suffice as exception to the rule. The decrepit state of our medical facilities and lack of upgraded training of our medical personnel have combined to push medical tourism beyond the threshold.

A situation where practically all our government functionaries refuse to patronise local hospitals   and would rather jet out to treat minor ailments is unhelpful to the economy. Rather than subject the economy to the vagaries of unwholesome medical quests, it would be logical to prioritize the type of ailment that should attract forex grant.

The federal government should also begin to monitor the health sector budget with intensive surveillance. The padding and introduction of discrepancies to the budget of the ministry of health is an unmistakable sign that appropriated funds to the health sector for so many years might have been diverted leaving our medical facilities in a state of disrepair.

There is urgent need to set up a Budget Implementation Task Force to monitor project implementation across the nation with a mandate to expose graft.

This is imperative due largely to the abuse and negligence of the National Assembly in the discharge its oversight functions as shown in the Halliburton scandal and the re-looting of the Abacha loot.

Forex and hard earned resources would continue to go down the drain as long as the national budget cannot be used to achieve economic renaissance due to avoidable sabotage.

Source: Thenationng, HWN Africa.