By Ayo Akinfe
If we can sort out a national flag carrier we can also sort out our healthcare problems if we set our minds to it. President Tinubu should come up with the following guidelines for public officials
[1] Elected officials and the members of their immediate families are barred from going overseas for medical treatment
[2] Exceptions may be made in the cases of rare specialist care. In such cases, affected officials need to write to the National Assembly seeking permission for such trips
[3] Any public official who needs specialist overseas care more than once during a four year tenure must vacate their office
[4] Any public official who spends more than 20 days abroad receiving healthcare must forfeit their office
[5] Nigeria’s health minister will be responsible for the treatment of any public official who has had to vacate office as a result of health challenges
[6] The health minister will ask any overseas hospital treating Nigerian public officials to train local doctors and nurses so such treatment can be offered in Nigeria
[7] Hospital bills for all specialist overseas treatment will be made public and must be approved by the National Assembly
[8] To cut down on overseas medical trips, all state governments must spend at least 20% of their annual budget on healthcare
[9] The federal government will build six specialist hospitals in Nigeria. They will cover renal failure, oncology, optometry, cardiology, brain surgery and orthopaedic surgery
[10] All public officials must undergo a thorough medical examination once a year to ascertain their fitness. Anyone who scores below 50% will be asked to vacate their office. In the run-up to elections, any candidate who scores less than 50% will be disqualified from running
