There is something fundamentally wrong with a country where a serious illness can become a death sentence for the poor and a ticket to another country for the rich.

For too many Nigerians, getting sick is no longer simply a health concern. It is a financial crisis, a family tragedy and, increasingly, a question of whether one can afford to remain alive.

This raises a painful but necessary question: Why must Nigerians travel abroad to receive medical treatment that a country of over 200 million people should be capable of providing at home?

Nigeria has doctors. We have nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, surgeons and other highly trained medical professionals. We have hospitals, medical schools and enormous human potential.

What we lack is the political commitment to build and sustain a healthcare system that works for ordinary Nigerians.

When Sickness Becomes a Sentence to Poverty
For millions of Nigerians, one major illness is enough to wipe out years of savings.

Patients are often required to pay for consultations, tests, scans, drugs, surgery and hospitalisation from their own pockets. Families borrow money, sell property and organise fundraising campaigns simply to keep a loved one alive.

According to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), about one million Nigerians are pushed into poverty every year because of healthcare expenses. The NHIA has also identified medical tourism as a major drain on the country’s resources.

These figures should embarrass every level of government.

A government that cannot guarantee affordable access to essential healthcare cannot claim to have fully secured the welfare of its citizens.

Healthcare should not be a privilege reserved for politicians, wealthy businessmen and those with the means to fly to India, the United Kingdom, the United States, Dubai or elsewhere.

Medical Tourism Is an indictment of the System
Medical tourism is often discussed as though Nigerians simply prefer foreign hospitals.

That explanation is too convenient.
People travel because they want confidence.
They want modern equipment. They want specialists. They want accurate diagnosis. They want shorter waiting times Above all, they want to believe that when their lives are at stake, the system will not fail them.

When Nigerians spend billions abroad on medical treatment, Nigeria loses twice.

First, families lose money that could have been spent within the domestic economy. Second, the country loses the opportunity to develop hospitals, research centres, specialist services and medical industries that could employ thousands of Nigerians.

We cannot continue exporting patients and importing medical services while pretending that the problem does not exist.

Medical tourism is not the disease.
It is one of the symptoms.
Where Are Our Health Workers Going?
Nigeria’s healthcare crisis is also a human capital crisis.

Thousands of Nigerian health professionals have sought opportunities abroad. Their decision is understandable. Professionals deserve decent wages, functional equipment, career development, safety and respect.

Government cannot solve brain drain by telling doctors and nurses to “be patriotic.”

Patriotism cannot pay rent.
Patriotism cannot replace functional equipment.
Patriotism cannot compensate for unsafe working conditions.

And patriotism cannot build a professional future for a young doctor who sees better opportunities elsewhere.

The political leadership must therefore ask a more honest question: What are we doing to make Nigerian hospitals attractive enough for Nigerian professionals to stay?

A Hospital Building Is Not Healthcare
Across the country, governments commission healthcare centres with ceremonies, speeches and photographs.

But after the cameras leave, some communities are left with buildings without adequate personnel, drugs, electricity, water, equipment or emergency services.

A painted building is not healthcare.
A commissioned project is not healthcare.
A hospital without the capacity to treat patients is simply infrastructure without impact.

Nigeria must move away from measuring healthcare development by the number of projects commissioned and begin measuring it by lives saved, patients treated, maternal deaths prevented, diseases detected early and families protected from catastrophic medical bills.

Government Must Move Beyond Promises
Nigeria has introduced several healthcare reforms, including the National Health Insurance Authority framework and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.

These initiatives are important.
But Nigerians have heard enough promises.
What citizens need now is measurable performance and accountability.

Every year, governments announce billions for healthcare. Nigerians therefore have every right to ask:

Where did the money go?
Which hospitals received it?
What equipment was purchased?
Is that equipment working?
How many healthcare workers were recruited?
How many Nigerians gained access to affordable insurance?

How many lives were actually saved?
These questions are not attacks on government. They are legitimate demands in a democracy.

Public funds belong to the people.
Healthcare Must Become a Political Priority
Nigeria’s healthcare crisis requires political courage.

We need sustained investment in primary healthcare, modern hospitals, emergency services, medical laboratories, pharmaceutical manufacturing, research and health insurance

We need stronger regulation of both public and private healthcare providers.

We need better remuneration and working conditions for health professionals.

We need an insurance system that reaches farmers, traders, artisans, transport workers, informal-sector employees and vulnerable families—not just people in formal employment.

And we need transparency in healthcare spending.
Most importantly, healthcare must be treated as an essential component of national security.

What is national security if citizens cannot survive preventable illnesses?

What is economic development if families are pushed into poverty by hospital bills?

What is the meaning of government if an ordinary citizen must beg for donations on social media to pay for emergency treatment?

Nigerians Deserve Better
The solution is not to stop Nigerians from travelling abroad for treatment.

The solution is to make travelling abroad unnecessary in cases that should be treatable at home.

Nigeria has the doctors.
Nigeria has the intelligence.
Nigeria has the resources.
Nigeria has the institutions.
What has been missing is sustained political will, accountability and a willingness to place human lives above short-term political calculations.

Our leaders should be able to receive treatment in Nigeria with confidence. That would be a powerful vote of confidence in the healthcare system they govern.

Our doctors should not have to leave Nigeria to practise with dignity.

Our nurses should not have to leave Nigeria to build a future.

Our patients should not have to leave Nigeria to find hope.

And no Nigerian family should have to choose between paying a hospital bill and feeding its children.

The true measure of leadership is not the number of projects commissioned or speeches delivered. It is whether the people can live with dignity and access essential services when they need them most.

Nigeria must stop treating healthcare as an afterthought. The time has come for healthcare to become a national emergency—and a political priority.

Because when a citizen is sick, there should be no difference between the rich man’s right to life and the poor man’s right to survive.

Nigeria must build a healthcare system in which no citizen has to leave the country simply to stay alive.

Comr. Agyo Atsika Mgbashongha is a student of International and Diplomatic Studies at the National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja. He is a researcher, Freelance Writer, unionist, and an active member of the Nigeria Boys’ Brigade, Benue State Council.