The House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions has vowed to stop the brain drain of health workers in Nigeria, as the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jabi Abuja revealed that 51 of its staff resigned from their appointment at the beginning of 2023.
The committee, led by its chairman, Amos Gomina Magaji, visited the FMC Jabi on an oversight function to assess the level of healthcare delivery at the facility. Magaji said the committee would focus on improving the budgetary allocation for the health sector and ensuring that health workers are well remunerated and motivated.
He also said the committee would work towards ensuring that the hospital gets another land allocation to expand its health services and cater for the growing population of patients.
Magaji expressed concern over the persistent problem of brain drain in the health sector, which he said was affecting the quality and accessibility of healthcare in the country. He said the committee was determined to reverse the trend and make Nigeria a destination for medical tourism.
“We want to see that people are coming from Niger Republic, Ghana, and Egypt to access healthcare here. We are going to see that medical tourism is reduced, and it cannot reduce until we deal with the issues of manpower, equipment, infrastructure, and we will see that these are achieved, especially in the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.
The Chief Medical Director of FMC Jabi, Sa’ad Ahmed, who disclosed that about 51 healthcare workers have left the hospital since the beginning of 2023, decried the spate at which every department in the hospital has been affected by brain drain.
He said the hospital was facing a manpower shortage in the Ear, Nose and Throat department, the department of neurology, the cardiology department, and the physiotherapy department, among others.
He appealed to the committee to intervene and help the hospital retain its staff and provide adequate equipment and infrastructure to meet the needs of the patients.
The issue of brain drain in the health sector has been a long-standing challenge in Nigeria, as many doctors, nurses, and other health professionals seek better opportunities and working conditions abroad.
According to the Nigerian Medical Association, more than 75,000 nurses have left Nigeria since 2017, while about 507 doctors left Lagos state for the UK between March 2020 and October 2022.
The World Health Organization predicts a worldwide shortage of 10 million health and care workers by 2030, mostly in low-income countries, where people leave for opportunities abroad.
Nigeria has also failed to meet the commitment made by African leaders under the 2001 Abuja Declaration to allocate at least 15 per cent of its annual spending to the health sector.
The 2023 budget proposal allocates only 5.75 per cent of the total budget to health, sustaining the country’s refusal to meet the AU commitment.
However, the 2023 health budget shows a significant increase from the previous years, amounting to N1.17 trillion, compared to N826.9 billion in 2022 and N547 billion in 2021.
The budget also includes provisions for equipping existing hospitals, rehabilitating health infrastructures, and seeing through the local production of essential medicines, including vaccines, in 2023.
Source: Tribune Online
