President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Professor Innocent Ujah has appealed to the Senate to amend the Nigerian Constitution to stop the President, governors, members of the National Assembly, and other public office holders from seeking medical treatment abroad with taxpayers’ money.
The NMA boss was speaking on Friday in Lagos via mass media. According to him, it had become increasingly important for Government officials to begin to use medical Facilities in the country saying this can only be achieved through legislation.
His views comes a day after the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs asked State House officials to equip the clinic at the Presidential Villa to ensure President Muhammadu Buhari would have no need to travel abroad for medical treatment again.
“What the Senate is saying, in my own opinion, is purely political. It has no force of law. If they want it to have force of law, they should enact it in the Constitution; amend the Constitution and make it a law,” the NMA president said.
He added, “What we need to know is that nobody can be prevented from accessing health from anywhere in the world, but it should not be at government expenses.
“I think that is the most important thing. The second thing is that they have talked about funds for the State House clinic; that money has not been released.”
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