Let me wish Senator Tinubu a quick recovery if indeed he is sick and flown to London. As he recovers, I want to use this moment to challenge the presidential candidates to commit to upgrade at least six teaching hospitals (one per geopolitical zone) to the standards they have seen in London and Baltimore.
Many years ago, I met a Nigerian president in the hallways of an American hospital in Baltimore. I was spending time in the medical school as part of a course titled “Surgery for Engineers”’ where they were teaching us what doctors do in operating rooms, and how we could learn from those experiences, to design future medical devices. We did thoracic, abdominal, etc surgeries on pigs – and tried some devices on them.
People, a huge president was normalized. He was just like everyone! And that was the intriguing part. What could have prevented him from upgrading the Aso Rock clinic or the general hospital in Abuja?
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President Buhari missed the opportunity to use his London hospital journeys to do something in the broad healthcare sector by uplifting at least one clinic to serve his immediate needs, even if the common man and woman may not register in the policy document.
Our journalists must draw attention to Nigeria’s healthcare system and make it part of the core pillars of this election season; health is wealth. Many Nigerians in the diaspora want to return home but the fear of living in a country with a sub-par healthcare system scares! To Senator Tinubu, wishing you a quick recovery.
Comment on Social Media Feed
Comment: I think the wish isn’t well-meant but rather a mockery. I thought professors believed in evidence. Tinubu never told you he is sick; his doctors never said the same. So why the pettiness and mischievousness. Focus on issues Prof.
My Response: If we wait for everything written on the pages of newspapers to be certified by doctors, engineers, presidents, etc, we will not have any press. When the news broke, I did not write it hoping that his men will fight the news. But since they did not, it is fair game to give credence to the news.
If you travel to London, no one cares. If I travel to Turkey, no one cares. But if you want to run over 210 million, you expose yourself to this scrutiny. Politics is a contact force; do not join if you do not want to be hit. Tinubu is a citizen and we want him to recover if he is sick. But Tinubu the politician has zero right to control what people write about him as he seeks high office. I have never written about his health. But I will continue to write about going to London, New York, etc by politicians for medical.
When VP Osinbajo went for surgery in Lagos, I did not write because it was not news. He is a human. But if he had gone to New York, you would have read a piece on it. I have no time for Tinubu’s health but I have an issue on this London thing politicians do.
If he goes to National Stadium right now to hold an impromptu rally, the news will move. There is no sentiment on this.
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