Tackling corruption frees funds for universal health care – Mairami

Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association in the FCT, Dr Fatima Mairami, says tackling corruption that funnelled public funds into private pockets will free up more funds to make universal health care accessible to Nigerians. Speaking as the association opened its annual general conference on Tuesday in Abuja, Mairami said, "If healthcare is affordable and […]

Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association in the FCT, Dr Fatima Mairami, says tackling corruption that funnelled public funds into private pockets will free up more funds to make universal health care accessible to Nigerians.

Speaking as the association opened its annual general conference on Tuesday in Abuja, Mairami said, "If healthcare is affordable and accessible to all and sundry, then the issue of medical tourism will be lowered."

"Right now, apart from poverty levels, even access to funds generally is much lower than people usually had, because corruption is being tackled," Mairami said.

"And you know that corruption is one of the means by which people amassed wealth that didn’t belong to them, and those are the people that usually went out of the country for medical care, inasmuch as we have these facilities right here in the nation.

"By the time universal health care is accessible and the state of our hospitals is improved, people will stay back home to access health care," she noted.