Brian Manning has opined that the real reason ministers and other Government officials go abroad for medical treatment is to avoid any untoward publicity if they are treated locally—not because they don’t have faith in local doctors/institutions.
I beg to disagree.
The real reason is they don’t have to pay a cent. The hapless taxpayers (you and I) foot the bill. And the “patient” actually makes a profit from “allowances” and “expenses”.
Observe that once out of government and having to pay from their own pockets, they are happy to “go local”.
Even for a routine check-up, the prime minister finds it necessary to travel all the way to California (the westernmost US state and, again, at our expense), when the same tests could have been done at the same facility to which he was taken recently for treatment.
I suppose if he had the luxury of time, he would have gone to California this time as well.
Hopefully, he will encourage his ministers to seek treatment abroad only when absolutely necessary.
A Charles
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