Buhari and his medical trips: Adewole justifies treatment abroad

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole, has asked Nigerians and the international community not to be overly worried over Buhari’s health as there was really no cause for concern.Attempting to give reasons why the president could not be treated in Nigeria, he proffered that it was because of the long existing bond between him and his foreign doctors, saying health was a complex issue.The minister’s remarks on the president’s health came just as a presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said Tuesday that Buhari would win another election overwhelmingly because “he had paid his dues”.Recall the president’s current trip is the third in the past year solely for medical reasons.“One thing we must realise is that health is a complex issue. There’s what we call patient-doctor relationship; there is also a bond between the patient and the doctor and these are things we can’t play with,” the minister said in an interview with newsmen.“I used to have patients in Ibadan and they still call me, and say ‘we will like to see you’. Then I have to say no to them because I’m no longer available and ask, ‘why can’t you see somebody else?’ But many of them are reluctant to do so. That’s the complex thing about health.“We should give him (Buhari) that choice. What we really wish is for Mr. President to be well and hearty.“However, this is also a complex country, so I am not too happy about some of the insinuations, because we should pray for our leaders. We should continue to pray for him,” Adewole further said.Still addressing the concern among many Nigerians and the international community over the president’s continuing absence because of his health, the minister said: “There is no cause for alarm.”, while observing that Buhari was an unusual man.“He came back and told us that he was ill and that he was treated. When we have that type of leader, I think we can go to sleep,” the health minister said.“The first thing we have done is to approve the policy, that’s the third Health Policy in the history of Nigeria. So this government can take credit for putting a policy in place, that’s number one.“We also launched a programme called the ‘Save One Million Lives Initiative’, where we took money from the World Bank and gave it to the states as seed grants to develop programmes that will impact on the lives of women and children because we want many of our indicators – maternal and child health indicators – to change. We don’t want our women to die as if they are chickens, that’s number two,” Adewole who is also a professor of surgery, concluded.