The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Sunday said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s long absence from Nigeria for medical treatment in the United Kingdom clearly showed that he does not believe in the country’s health system.

According to a BBC report, by travelling abroad to seek medical attention, President Buhari alongside some other African leaders like Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, Patrice Talon of Benin Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe have all displayed their lack of faith in the medical institutions and systems of their respective countries.

The report which attributed the deplorable state of Nigeria’s health facilities to poor government funding, further expressed doubt about the capabilities of the health institutions in the country to sustain the president’s already fragile health status.

A Nigerian doctor who is former President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Osahon Enabulele, who was featured in the report was quoted as saying that “the issue with these trips abroad is not only the implied criticism of the medics at home, but they also serve to undermine the health system.

Dr. Enabulele identified underfunding as a major setback of health institutions in Nigeria. He argued that political leaders in the country do not have the incentive to improve the nation’s health services since they could always afford to travel elsewhere