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Why do Autocratic Leaders go abroad for Medical Treatment?

Par Franck.schneider — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74707765

This debate has been re-launched during the hospitalisation of Algeria’s President Bouteflika in the Swiss city of Geneva. The Pt Bouteflika suffered a stroke in 2013 and had also been hospitalized several times in France. Many other political leaders from Nigeria, Angola, Zimbabwe, and Benin have been early pioneers in the development of « Medical Tourism ». Of course, the vast majority of citizens in these countries must rely on the poor health services they have at home. The example of Nigeria is a telling one. It was estimated that the Nigerian political rulers spent in 2013 more than $ 1 billion on medical treatment abroad (Re.Dr Osahon Enabulele Univ.Benin). By comparison the country’s health budget for 2014 was $1.7 billion. There are two main reasons to explain this situation. First these leaders lack confidence in their own health care system. Yet, they have often been in power for decades and have simply refused to invest more resources in public health care. Consequently, the health care system is of very low quality and healthcare professionals leave their homeland. And the second reason is equally evident. Local health authorities and doctors are potentially dangerous people for these autocrats. They can disclose medical secrets on the poor health of these rulers. And this information is often used to organize riots and military coups. In such tense environment medical confidentiality is a matter of survival for these authoritarian regimes. Nonetheless, it is now increasingly difficult to prevent information from being shared. In the case of Pt Bouteflika confidential information about his very poor state of health was leaked to the press during his hospitalisation.

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