President Muhammadu Buhari has spoken against the need for medical treatment abroad.
Buhari, at the commissioning ceremony of Nigerian Air Force Reference Hospital in Daura, Katsina State on Thursday, said Nigeria must reduce dependence on medical treatment abroad.
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He said the Federal Government was working to improve health facilities, equipment and services in the country.
According to him, his government had, in the last four years, invested resources in the health sector, with increased budgetary allocation moving from N259 billion in 2015 to over N340 billion in 2018.
He said: “Accordingly, significant strides have been made to life expectancy and reduced some of the killer diseases associated with child and maternal mortality to less than 70 deaths per 100, 000 live births by the year 2030, as planned in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
“Despite this, more efforts are needed to fully eradicate a wide range of diseases and many persistent and emerging health issues in our society.”
The President said health services in the rural areas deserve more attention.
“To achieve this, we must now redouble efforts to focus on providing more efficient funding of the health sector, improve sanitation and hygiene, and increase access to medical care in the rural areas in order to save lives of millions of Nigerians.
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“There is, therefore, no more auspicious time to commission this Reference Hospital than now.
“This hospital will minimise the need for people in these areas to travel to Kano, Kaduna, Abuja or even overseas to receive medical treatment,” he said.
