As the nation mourns the passing of former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, His Grace, Alfred Adewale Martins, has called on the government and stakeholders to urgently reform Nigeria’s ailing healthcare system.
In a statement issued on the day of Buhari’s burial, Archbishop Martins expressed deep condolences to the late president’s family and the Nigerian people. He used the occasion to spotlight the longstanding failures in the nation’s health sector, drawing a link between the late president’s death in a London hospital and Nigeria’s overreliance on foreign medical care.
Recalling the public outcry by former First Lady Aisha Buhari over the poor state of the State House Clinic during her husband’s tenure, the Archbishop described the situation as “indeed a shame
Archbishop Martins noted that Buhari’s death marks the second time a sitting or former Nigerian president has died in a foreign hospital, referencing the 2010 passing of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in Saudi Arabia.
He decried the inequality in access to healthcare, saying the wealthy can seek treatment abroad while ordinary citizens are left to die from preventable diseases.
The Archbishop also addressed the deepening brain drain affecting the country’s health sector, lamenting the mass exodus of doctors and nurses seeking better opportunities abroad. The Archbishop also addressed the deepening brain drain affecting the country’s health sector, lamenting the mass exodus of doctors and nurses seeking better opportunities abroad.
