The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) chairman in Oyo State, Dr Wale Lasisi, has called on the government to give doctors incentives to mitigate the brain drain bedevilling the health sector.
Lasisi called in Ibadan on Tuesday at the opening of the 2022 Physicians’ Week, with the theme “Nigeria’s Healthcare Delivery System and the 2023 Democratic Transition: A Time to Change the Narrative.”
He said that the problem of brain drain had existed since 1960, as many people left the country daily.
“In those days, the pattern was people training abroad and coming home to practise.
“As things degenerated over time, many people who have been exposed abroad ran back while those who have had the opportunity of training abroad also ran back when they saw the quality service there.
“UK is trying to replace its own workforce and ensure its people get the best of healthcare, thus coming down to Third World nations in Africa, including Nigeria, to recruit medical personnel.
“In the immediate future, the best that government can do is to add incentives to retain those on the ground,” Lasisi said.
In his lecture, Vice-Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, advised those contesting for one position or the other to put the issue of healthcare on the front burner.
“We have heard several promises from 1960 until the civilian rule started in 1999.
“So much legislation had also been made, and we have heard that they wanted to develop primary healthcare, but we have not seen any significant improvement.
“My advice and plea to all of them is to make sure that they put primary healthcare into focus,” Agboola said.
Dr Fola Adeniji of University College Hospital, Ibadan, said if the brain drain trend should be allowed to continue, the country would be at risk of having a collapsed health system.
“For every physician trained in Nigeria, the government must have spent an average of N3.8 million, equivalent to $10,000.
“So if that individual decides to leave the country, that means the country will be losing investments in that individual,” Adeniji said.
In his opening remarks, the event’s Chairman, Prof. Akinyinka Omigbodun, described doctors as endangered. Many were leaving for other places, and the few were already overwhelmed by the number of patients.
Omigbodun urged the association to bring together policymakers and stakeholders to implement policies that would benefit the sector.
In his goodwill message, the Chief Medical Director of UCH, Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, noted that the nation’s healthcare system had suffered greatly, especially due to the poor allocation of resources to the sector.
However, he said this year’s budget had given the sector the highest allocation for the first time in many decades.
Meanwhile, REPORTERS AT LARGE earlier reported that the NMA said Nigeria is battling its worst brain drain situation in history, as it records 10,296 Nigerian-trained doctors practising in the United Kingdom.
The association’s president, Dr Uche Ojinmah, raised this concern during the press briefing to mark the 2022 Physicians’ Week in Ibadan.
