The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, says people from other African countries are now considering Nigeria for medical care.
Speaking on migration of doctors and medical tourism, the minister said in the last six months, he has visited several teaching hospitals and found that they are manned by world class Nigerian professionals.
He said many world class Nigerian professionals in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia are all looking forward to coming back home because the president has restored their hopes and renewed their commitment to the nation.
“Many of those who go abroad go and see Nigerian physicians. There are many of the medical professionals that are yearning to come back and now we have a president that has rekindled that hope,” he said.
Pate said with the expansion of the health sector infrastructure, many of the medical professionals will return to Nigeria and “Nigerians will begin to look around and see that there are services they can get here”.
The minister said Nigerians will soon begin to see major changes in the health sector which will renew their hope in the government.
“I think Nigerians have been conditioned to have low levels of expectations in the government. That’s why we’re talking less and doing more. The reality of change will be what changes the minds of Nigerians,” he said.
“In the next three to six months, Nigerians will see groundbreaking infrastructure investment to expand diagnostic capabilities all over this country — at least eight of them including two major oncology centres.”
