Nigeria’s Medical Brain Drain: Minister Wants Better Life For Nigerian Medical Doctors.
NIGERIA'S Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr. Christopher Ngige has indicated the fact that Nigeria has more than enough qualified medical doctors to manage the entire number of established government hospitals in the country.
He made the remark in Abuja on Wednesday 24th April 2019, during an interview with the Sunrise Daily Channel Television.
He however warned that, doctors in their bid to move out of the country for greener pasture, government must make sure enough resident and specialist doctors man important key positions in all government hospitals in the country and the surplus or excess doctors who so wish to leave the shores of the country must be given the opportunity to do so.
Dr. Ngige believes and affirmed that the present brain drain of medical doctors in the country will not in any way affect government policy on health care or mar development of the country’s health care sector.
The country’s growing number of doctors he said is synonymous with the plight of a local trader who has few demand for an excess good, it will be wise for him to export the excess commodity to generate more income or revenue. The surplus medical doctors in the country he said must be encouraged to serve in less privileged countries of the world where they are in high demand.
He is of the opinion that Nigerian doctors who have the opportunity to work in developed countries of the world where we have good working facilities and pay, can train to specialize in any area of medicine and become well exposed to the use and management of modern medical facilities. They can work to earn good salary and can also safe enough money and return home to use skills acquired to develop government hospitals or set up their own private clinics or specialist hospitals to improve health care delivery system in the country.
The Minister’s pronouncement will in a way put to rest the fear, threat and loss the constant strike and exodus of doctors in the country pose to the people and government due to their insatiable demands from the government.
Many Nigerian doctors however do not agree with Dr. Ngige’s view that the country has enough medical doctors. Many say he is far away from the truth as to coming to terms on how to address the problems of poor salary, poor working facilities in hospitals, poor training facilities for doctors on houseman ship and the low number of qualified doctors to manage the numerous hospitals in the country as basis for their unending fight with the government.
A senior Medical doctor with the Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital Osogbo, Osun state during an interview says, Nigeria with its present growing population of about 200 million people, has a ratio of one doctor to about 2, 500 patients.
This looks rather too high when compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended standard ratio of one doctor to about 600 patients.
Nigeria has a population of about 40,000 resident doctors and government hospitals in cities and hinterland are empty with no doctors to attend to sick patients. The few available doctors are over worked, poorly paid and with obsolete working facilities, a situation that still needs to be address by the government.
Dr. Ngige is 66 years old. He graduated from the University of Nigeria Nsukka as a medical doctor forty (40) years ago. He worked in different capacities as a medical doctor, he served with the Federal Ministry of Health and retired in 1998 to join politics. He was a former governor of Anambra state between 2003 and 2006 and he became the Senator for Anambra Central constituency in 2011. He served in this position until his present appointment as Minister of Labour and Employment in 2015 by President Muhammad Buhari.