Expert says amendment to Healthcare Act will reduce medical tourism

The passing of a bill seeking to stop the funding of overseas medical treatments for public officials will limit how taxpayers' funds are siphoned for medical tourism.

Dr Tunji Akintade, a former Chairman, Association of Nigeria Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP), said this in an interview on Tuesday in Lagos.

The general physician, who commended the legislature's effort in passing the bill, however, noted that it might not stop the leakage in the health sector.

According to him, the percentage of government officials going for medical tourism abroad is minute.

He said that top government officials would still find a way around the bill and its penalty to achieve their purpose.

He appealed to the legislature to ensure that funds earmarked for the health sector were not diverted into funding other programmes or projects.

Akintade stressed that the legislature should also legislate on the need for governments to implement the annual 15 per cent budget allocated to the health sector as agreed upon in 2001 by African heads of state in Abuja.

He said that doing this would ensure that desired results in promoting the development of the health sector were achieved.

Supreme reports that the House of Representatives had, on Feb. 9, passed for the second reading a bill to provide sanctions against public officials using public funds to seek medical treatment overseas.

The bill seeks to amend Section 46 of the Healthcare Act of 2014, by providing sanction of N500million or seven years' imprisonment for using public funds for healthcare abroad.

The bill sponsored by Sergius Ogun (PDP, Edo), seeks to discourage medical treatment abroad at the detriment of indigenous health institutions.