WATCH: Health minister defends Buhari’s medical trips, says Yusuf only flown abroad for rehabilitation
Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has defended President Muhammadu Buhari’s frequent trips to the United Kingdom for medical check ups as a personal preference.
In an interview on Channel TV’s ‘Hard Copy’ on Friday, Adewole said Buhari, like every Nigerian, has a right to be secretive about his medical condition, and that the president travelled to London for treatment because of privacy.
“I cannot speak for the President because he is an individual. I have interacted with a number of my colleagues and I know there is always a penchant not to go to the public hospital, they always want to go to a private hospital,” the minister said.
“When you ask them, they reply, ‘when we are there, whatever we have is well managed and the information we have is well contained.’ Also, there is a doctor-patient relationship. When you are used to a doctor, you want to keep to that doctor.”
Adewole further said the president’s son, Yusuf Buhari was only flown to Germany for “rehabilitation” after receiving proper treatment in Nigeria on Buhari’s insistence.
“The President asked his son to be treated in Nigeria. Even when people were clamouring that his son should be flown abroad, he said no,” he said.
“He just went to Germany for rehabilitation. He had his surgery in Nigeria.
“I am telling you that the son was treated in Nigeria. Take that from me as the Honourable Minister.”
The minister said the president’s knack of seeking medical aid outside Nigeria is not an indictment on the country’s healthcare system.
