Buhari Begins Two-Week Medical Leave In London
President Muhammadu Buhari has departed Nigeria for the United Kingdom on two-week medical vacation in the British capital.
The Presidency announced Buhari’s departure in a terse statement on Sunday.
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The president had initially planned to embark on the trip from Nairobi, Kenya after attending an event marking the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) held in that country.
But the president returned to Abuja on Friday and rescheduled the London trip for Sunday.
Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, had said that Buhari’s itinerary was modified because he completed his task in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, earlier than planned.
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President Buhari has traveled on medical purposes to the UK no less than eight times since assuming office in 2015. The Presidency has never disclosed the cost of these medical trips.
In 2019, President Buhari expressed concern over the country’s loss of N400 billion annually to medical tourism
“… our health sector is still characterised by low response to the public health emergencies, inability to combat outbreak of deadly diseases and mass migration of medical personnel out of the country.
“This has resulted in increasing medical tourism by Nigerians in which Nigeria loses N400 billion on an annual basis,” Buhari had said at the inauguration of senior executive course (SEC) 41 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Plateau State.
