Peoples Democratic Party has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of destroying the main opposition party’s legacies in the health sector, condemning his frequent medical trips abroad.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described Buhari’s routine medical check-up abroad as a clear evidence of his administration’s failure to fix Nigeria’s healthcare system.
PDP stated this in reaction President Buhari’s Tuesday’s medical trip to the United Kingdom.
The Presidency in a statement by Garba Shehu stated that Buhari left for London for a “routine medical check-up”, and would return to the country until the second week of April.
But the PDP, in a statement a few hours after Buhari’s departure, described the President’s regular foreign medical treatment as “a badge of failure,” urging him to consider the plight of other Nigerians.
The main opposition party said the situation had become so bad that “the hitherto highly rated State House Clinic has become so moribund” that the president cannot go there for his medical check-up.
According to the party, “While the PDP has nothing against where any person, including President Buhari, seeks his or her medical services, our party is worried that the Buhari Presidency is taking no decisive steps to fix our health care system, ostensibly because Mr. President can afford overseas medical treatment at tax payers’ expense.
“The PDP is disturbed that while Mr. President jets out for medical treatment in well-equipped hospitals abroad, our hospitals and medical personnel are in very sorry situation, while millions of our compatriots suffer, with many dying on a daily basis from conditions that have simple medical solutions.
“It is indeed heartrending that Nigerians are suffering this huge misfortune of having this highly insensitive, incompetent and corrupt leadership of very selfish individuals who do not care about the welfare of other citizens.
“More saddening is that all the institutions, policies and programmes established by the PDP, which hitherto ensured access to affordable healthcare for Nigerians have been wrecked by the Buhari administration.”