Upgrade Facilities At State House Clinic And Stop Foreign Medical Trips Of PMB- Senate Committee
The Senate, Thursday, urged State House officials against President Muhammadu Buhari embarking on foreign trips for medical attention.
It said rather than allow President Buhari to jet out to seek treatment abroad, the government and State House officials should put the State House Clinic in order for such purposes.
The President’s frequent treatment abroad has generated so much controversy in the polity each time he jetted out for medical attention.
The Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-governmental Affairs, led by Senator Danjuma La’ah (PDP, Kaduna South), gave the warning when the State House Permanent Secretary, Tijjani Umar, appeared before the committee to defend his 2021 budget estimates.
Umar had told the committee that of the N19.7 billion allocated to State House in the 2021 budget, only N1.3 billion was proposed for the State House Clinic.
Senator La’ah in his response, explained that though the committee would approve the budget for the State House Clinic, President Buhari and other top officials of his government should no longer be flown abroad for medical treatment.
He said: “Our President is not a man to be taken out anytime anything happens to him or he is sick.
“He must attend our clinic here and we must make sure we equip our hospital to the best of our ability so that any emergency will first be taken care of here before flying out, if the need arises.
“N1.3 billion is already approved for State House clinic. I want this thing done and I want the credit to go to the whole committee that the rehabilitation and equipment of State House clinic we requested was done within the shortest time. Oversight will be done monthly to ensure the job is completed in record time.’’
Speaking with journalists after defending his budget, the Permanent Secretary promised to put necessary arrangements in place to meet the medical needs of the President and other top officials once the budget was approved.
‘N1.3b budget inadequate’ He said: “Today (yesterday), we had the privilege of appearing before the Senate committee. It is not correct to say the State House clinic is comatose, it is not.
‘’We have realigned so many things and one of the fundamental challenges we have dealt with is the sustainable supply of drugs and consumables. Don’t forget that this is derived from the budget. “We have appealed to the committee to assist us with the presidential wing of the State House clinic.
“The N1.3 billion is absolutely inadequate when you juxtapose the amount proposed and the labour, the status of the principals that the project is going to serve and you compare with worldwide standards you see that it is nothing near what we need. It is considered a legacy project for us because we want to leave something down.”
