Garba Shehu, former media aide to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, has clarified that the ex-leader’s frequent medical trips abroad were not a rejection of Nigeria’s healthcare system, but rather a matter of personal preference.
Speaking during an appearance on Inside Sources, a Channels Television programme, Shehu addressed comments made by Femi Adesina, Buhari’s former spokesperson, who had recently suggested that Buhari “could have died a long time ago” had he depended solely on local hospitals. Adesina attributed the former president’s survival to foreign medical expertise.
Countering this narrative, Shehu maintained that President Buhari remained under the supervision of Nigerian medical doctors throughout his tenure in office.
“I think it is wrong to assume that he fenced himself off from the Nigerian medical system,” Shehu said. “He had a Nigerian doctor — a chief personal physician and a state house clinic, also led by a medical consultant, a distinguished doctor of many years of practice.”
He further explained that the president’s domestic medical team was always available to meet his immediate health needs.
“In terms of the immediacy of his own medical needs, they were always present to administer to his own needs,” Shehu added.
While acknowledging Buhari’s regular visits overseas for medical reasons, Shehu emphasized that it was due to the pre-existing relationship the president had with foreign doctors.
“As for his attachment to his past practice abroad for his medicals, he had an attachment to that,” he said. “It was not that he was disrespectful of Nigeria’s medical practice or that he didn’t believe.”
Shehu also stated that Nigerian-trained doctors are practicing in many countries and are highly respected around the world.
“For most people who also travel abroad and they need to see doctors — I have experienced this in America — you go into the office of the doctor and you find that it’s a Nigerian surgeon, it’s a Nigerian doctor,” he noted.
