Aisha Buhari blasts Aso Rock Clinic for lack of basic equipment

*Laments lack of syringe, malfunction x-ray machine
*Says she was forced to patronize private hospital
Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

The wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has tongue-lashed the management of the Aso Rock Clinic for its inability to provide ordinary first aid treatment despite the billions of naira budgeted annually for the clinic.

Mrs. Buhari said that it was embarrassing that a hospital such as the Aso Clinic did not have medical facilities to cater for the health need of the people it is meant to serve.

Speaking on Monday at a stakeholders meeting on Reproductive, Maternal, Nutrition, Child Advocacy and Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N), at the State House, Abuja, Mrs. Buhari said that she recently fell ill and was advised to travel to London for treatment, but she refused.

She said: “I called the Aso Clinic to find out if they have an X-Ray machine; they said it’s not working. In the end, I had to go to a hospital owned and operated by foreigners 100 per cent.

“There is a budget for the hospital and if you go there now, you will see a number of constructions going on but they don’t have a single syringe there. What is the purpose of the buildings if there are no equipment there to work with?”

“You can imagine what happens across the states to governors’ wives if this will happen to me in Abuja.”

This was not the first time the Buharis would criticise the clinic which is meant to serve the presidency.

Buhari’s daughter, Zahra, had last week taken to her Instagram page to criticise the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Jalal Arabi, for his inability to provide even Paracetamol tablets to the clinic despite a budget of N3 billion for the provision of drugs to the hospital.

The Daily Times recalls that the Aso Rock Clinic management had last week claimed that it was short of funds for major projects and purchases and would demand the commercialisation of the clinic’s operations for efficiency.