Passing On of Former Nigerian President at London Hospital Part of “tide of medical tourism”: Catholic Archbishop

Jos, 16 July, 2025 / 10:25 PM

The passing on of the immediate former President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, at a London health facility in the United Kingdom (UK) is part of the “tide of medical tourism” in the West African nation, Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins of the country’s Lagos Catholic Archdiocese has lamented.

In his Tuesday, July 15 statement in which he implores that God grants the late former President “eternal rest and consolation to all who are saddened by his death”, Archbishop Adewale challenges the Nigerian government to address gaps in its healthcare system.

The late Buhari, who served as President of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023 passed on at a London clinic on Sunday, July 13 “following a prolonged illness”, the spokesperson of President Bola Tinubu is quoted as saying. 

The body of the late 82-year-old former President was brought back to Nigeria on Tuesday, July 15, reportedly landing at the airport in Katsina State, Northern Nigeria. He was later laid to rest at his family compound in Daura some 80km from Katsina city.

“His death in a London hospital brings into focus again, the need to develop healthcare delivery and facilities in our country in order to stem the tide of medical tourism,” Archbishop Adewale laments in his one-page statement shared with ACI Africa.

That the immediate former President of Africa’s most populous nation had to fly out of the country for medication is an “anomaly” because it “does not only drain the purses of those who can afford it, but more importantly, it also deepens the pain of those who cannot afford medical treatment overseas,” he says. 

Those unable to fund overseas trips for medication, Archbishop Adewale says, “are left with the feeling that they are being left to die even from the most easily treatable illnesses.”

Recalling former First Lady Aisha Buhari’s public complaint about the “poor condition of State House Clinic” during her husband’s administration, the Catholic Archbishop notes that this raises serious concerns about the quality of medical care available to ordinary citizens.

He alludes to the May 2010 passing on of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in Saudi Arabia, saying, “It is indeed a shame that the death of President Buhari makes it the second time that the President of our country would die in hospitals overseas.”

For the Local Ordinary of Lagos Archdiocese, there is an immediate need for Nigeria’s “governments at all levels to wake up to the need for doing something strategic in order to improve the healthcare delivery and the facilities needed in our country.”

The immediate former President’s passing on at a medical facility abroad speaks to the challenge of brain drain, which Archbishop Adewale says has “very badly” affected Nigeria’s healthcare system. 

The passing on of former President Buhari, he says, “is also a wake-up call to find ways of dealing with the issues that lead to the brain drain that has impacted the health sector very badly and continues to impoverish healthcare delivery in the country.”

Archbishop Adewale notes that in Nigeria, “nearly every health care professional is waiting for an opportunity to Japa and use their expertise to care for peoples of other countries.”

“Ironically, many times it is the same medical professionals that should be taking care of us in the country that people meet in hospitals that they go to abroad,” he further says in his July 15 statement.

In the statement, the Local Ordinary of Lagos, who started his Episcopal Ministry in January 1998 as Bishop of Nigeria’s Abeokuta Catholic Diocese says he hopes the events surrounding the passing on of former President Buhari will “be the catalyst for bringing about the necessary improvement of the state of healthcare delivery in our country.”

Charles Muchiri contributed to the writing of this story