Nigerian Douye Nomayo has received the prize for best overall performance in the School of Health & Psychological Sciences at City, University of London.
The medical doctor who graduated with distinction received the prize after obtaining a master’s degree in health policy from the City, University of London.
Before migrating to the United Kingdom, Nomayo worked at the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, for nine years.
Douye Nomayo, in a press statement, said she decided to pursue a second degree in health policy because of her interest in public service.
“During my time spent working in the hospital, I saw the suffering people went through to access healthcare, due to high costs or unavailability.
“I realised that healthcare practitioners must get more involved in politics to get problems in the health sector on the political agenda quickly. I set out to understand the financial and political aspects of policy-making in healthcare and learned how to formulate, evaluate and improve on existing policies.
“Several countries have gone through health system reforms, and their experiences can be leveraged to produce changes that will be financially feasible and acceptable to both healthcare providers and the Nigerian population,” she said.
Speaking further, Nomayo blamed the migration of Nigerian medical professionals to foreign countries, particularly the UK and the United States, on insecurity and economic factors.
“The level of insecurity became so high, forcing so many people to leave. A lot of medical doctors were kidnapped, and some were even killed,” she said, adding that medical professionals were not adequately paid for their work, while most of the hospitals in Nigeria are poorly equipped.”
