Casual Musing with Chioma Emezi
Email: chyemezi
The rate at which lots of Nigerians rush to have babies in the United States of America is alarming. I was alone with my thoughts, trying to justify this trend when another equally concerned friend raised this issue on her Facebook page and it became the hot topic for the day.
The sad thing about this trend is that most of the people who travel to the United States to have their babies cannot really afford it. They also do not have any health insurance, so they spend a minimum of N3million just to have one baby. The cost is more if it is a case of multiple births or if there are complications. They also cannot afford accommodation and so they look for a friend or a relation who can accommodate them throughout the duration of their stay and also drive them around to meet up with their hospital appointments. They simply want to be like the Joneses because for them it is more prestigious to say “Oh, I had my baby abroad”. They take loans or put their partners under intense pressure just to achieve this. So I ask why?
Are the children born abroad more intelligent, prettier or better than the ones birthed in Nigeria?
For some ladies, it is all about competition. If Simbi can have her baby abroad, why can’t I?
Lots of reasons have been put forward on why Nigerians rush of to foreign countries to have their babies
The most popular reason is citizenship and to secure the child’s future. Once a child is born in a country like the United States of America, the child automatically is an American citizen and acquires the Blue Passport. So is this American passport, the passport to heaven? For the parents who have borrowed to pay for this “Citizenship by Birth” do you think having an American child would give you the parents an automatic visa at the U.S. Embassy? I have seen parents denied visas at the US Embassy in Lagos. When the interviewer asked what they intended to do in the U.S., the mother replied, “Oh I had my last baby there and I just want to visit”. Through the public address system, all I heard the interviewer tell them was “Sorry your application cannot be granted at this point…” Choi! After all the long grammar? Do you think that an American passport solves all the problems the child would ever have? Like if he or she commits a crime and flashes the passport all charges would be dropped? Oh, I laugh in Fulfulde. You are on a very long thing.
Secondly, a lot of blame is put on the state of healthcare facilities in Nigeria. Lots of people narrated their ordeal at the government hospitals and maternities with emphasis on the attitude of the health workers. Fine, I can understand that, but I know that there are private hospitals in Nigeria with up-to-date state of the art equipment and staff who know their onions. The people who can afford to have their babies abroad can afford to pay the hospital bills and enjoy first class medicare at these private hospitals. There is no type of service that they get abroad that these privately owned hospitals cannot give them.
Another said that the hospitals abroad are meticulous and pay more attention than the ones in Nigeria. I totally disagree. I disagree because I have had an experience at a hospital abroad where I was misdiagnosed and given the wrong medication. Because I listen to my body and pay attention to every fibre I knew something was amiss so I went back to the clinic and insisted on having another test carried out (which I still paid for). Guess what. When the results came back, I was right! There was a misdiagnosis and the doctor was full of apologies. I was in no mood for a lawsuit, if not I would have been a few thousands of dollars richer. Was this in Nigeria? No. This goes to show that mistakes can occur anywhere if the healthcare provider is careless.
There was another experience a cousin of mine also had abroad. She felt the onset of labour and went to her gynaecologist. After being checked, she was told it was ‘false labour’ and sent home. Because she felt the doctor knew better, she simply went back home, only to have the baby five minutes later right in her living room!
One can say that these are few instances but these are the ones I have personal knowledge of. What about the ones swept under the carpet that we know nothing about? Having said that, I believe that if the government pays more attention to healthcare in the country, motivate and pay the doctors and other care givers their salaries right on time, things will be better in Nigeria. In Nigeria we depend more on the experience of the medical practitioner with little or no confirmation from medical equipment because they are not available. The knowledge is there but no equipment. That is the edge and advantage of seeking medicare abroad. They have the knowledge, the research institutes as well as the equipment.
For those who can effortlessly afford it, it is no big deal to have your babies abroad. You can even have your babies in Buckingham Palace if you can afford it and won’t return home to smoke garri out of hardship.
For those who want to be like the Joneses, please try and cut your coats according to your cloths and sizes. Act your wages. To have babies abroad especially in the United States is not cheap at all. Why borrow just to have a child abroad and have no peace when you return because you have loans to repay? There is nothing wrong with having lofty dreams but plan well. Start saving early and make sure it is convenient. It should not be a do-or-die affair. No be by force o!
If you seek American citizenship so much for your child, just be patient because you never know what tomorrow may bring.
