The spectre of political leaders spending huge chunk of public resources on their own healthcare abroad while leaving the ordinary people with Second World War equipment and dilapidated, dysfunctional hospitals at home is, finally about to be laid to rest. The nemesis for this practice which is one of the biggest banes of democracy, especially in Nigeria, is coming from a civil society campaign spearheaded by the Organization of Trade Union Organizations of West Africa (OTUWA).
Resting on the slogan “Our leaders must use our hospitals”, the impending West Africa wide campaign against medical tourism is the outcome of a research dissemination workshop organised by OTUWA with support from the Solidarity Center.
The meeting which brought together the over thirty trade union leaders and activists from the region noted how medical tourism disproportionately benefits the power elite while diverting resources that could strengthen local health systems. At the same time, the practice leaves health workers demoralized because the resulting poor investment in domestic healthcare sends the message that the local healthcare workers – doctors, pharmacists, laboratory technologists, nurses and midwives, etc. – are of no use. This is what leads to brain drain, it was concluded.
Cde Odah and another African labour leader
Trade unions, in alliance with other stakeholders, are taking up the gauntlet in terms of resolving to embark on the campaign, believing as they do that it is their historical role to lead the demand for public investment in health, transparency and accountability.
OTUWA Executive Secretary, Comrade John Odah who drew attention to the deepening crisis posed by the unchecked rise of medical tourism in West Africa noting in his speaking remarks to the session that medical tourism, as currently practiced, is not merely a symptom of failing health systems but “a direct contributor to the structural poverty and inequality that undermine our societies”.
When public officials and elite routinely bypass domestic health facilities in favour of treatment abroad, they abandon their responsibility to invest in and improve the healthcare services that ordinary citizens depend upon, argues the Executive Secretary who declared what has become a ‘two-tiered system of health access’ to be unjust and dangerous.
OTUWA on the move
Odah said, among other points that such an arrangement “entrenches inequality by ensuring that quality care remains a privilege for the few while the majority struggle with underfunded, overstretched local hospitals. In essence, it creates a healthcare apartheid, one that contradicts the principles of social justice and equal opportunity that we, as trade unions, uphold”.
Odah’s argument is also that the practice of what he calls unchecked diversion of public financial, administrative and human capital toward private overseas medical services erode trust in democratic governance, signaling a lack of accountability while widening the gap between elected leaders and the people they claim to serve. “Democracy cannot thrive when leaders do not rely on the same public services as their constituents” Comrade Odah asserted, insisting on labour and civil society challenging the culture that normalizes medical tourism by the elite.
Preceding Odah in speaking at the session was Deddeh Tulay, the Solidarity Center Country Programme Director for West Africa. Tulay who spoke through Solidarity Centre’s Senior Programme Officer, Gabin Ralph, pledged the continuous support of the Center to trade union campaigns on health and democracy of the region.
What appears to be the starting point of the campaign is OTUWA’s call for immediate reforms that leads to transparent health budgeting and public investment in domestic healthcare infrastructure, regulation and reporting of government-funded overseas medical travels as well as inclusive health policies that prioritize access and dignity for all citizens.
The coming irresistible campaign is set to shatter the resource-draining practice for years by arguing against healthcare being turned into a commodity reserved for the wealthy alone rather than a fundamental human right. What is understood as the central argument of the campaign is the reasoning that “If we are to combat poverty, reduce inequality, and preserve democracy in West Africa, we must end the double standard in healthcare and demand systems that serve the many, not just the few”.
When the campaign begins is still unclear but Intervention understands that all the preparatory steps are currently on-going and taking shape. It promises to be the most intense public goods assertion by the civil society in recent years.
