President Buhari’s Confidence In His Physician Reason For Medical Trip – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has thrown his weight behind the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to seek medical attention outside the country.

Mohammed on Wednesday said President Buhari’s trip is not an indication that Nigeria’s health system has collapsed.

The minister made this claim during his outing with BBC Radio and Television, Bloomberg and Politico in Washington D.C.

Mohammed further stated that his principal is not the first leader in the country to travel out for a medical trip.

He said, “As Minister of Information and Culture today if I have had a history of using a particular Doctor in my life and I have confidence in him, I don’t think the fact that I am now a minister will change that.”

“Irrespective of the nationality of that Doctor, it is my personal decision to choose the Doctor to use.”

“As I explained to them, he is not the only Head of State that has gone abroad for treatment.”

“If Mr President has a personal physician for over 30 years, who understands his case and has been managing him, why will it be an issue of contention to seek medical attention from him.”

“It will not be right to say that because of what people are going to say, he has to stay in Nigeria to seek treatment.”

The minister further stated that despite the criticism of the health system in the country, observers have rated Nigeria high in terms of the national response to COVID-19.

He noted that the country attained this feat despite it challenges to easily access vaccines.

“In countries where they have less population they have received tens of millions of doses whereas in Nigeria we have received just about eight million.”

“This is a far cry from the 70 per cent population that we need to vaccinate before we can achieve herd immunity.”