Ex-NMA chair urged govt to address brain drain in health sector

A medical practitioner, Dr Jide Onyekwelu, has urged the federal and state governments to address the brain drain in the health sector to improve healthcare delivery in the country.

Onyekwelu, who is the immediate past Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Anambra State, disclosed this in an interview withour correspondent on Sunday in Awka.

He listed the challenges being faced by Nigeria’s healthcare sector as lack of funds, poor infrastructure, poor remuneration and insecurity.

Onyekwelu noted that these challenges contributed to the persistent brain drain of homegrown doctors in search of higher wages and better standard of living.

He said that the emigration of healthcare providers was worsening the poor health indices of the country.

“The emigration of our health workers in their droves for greener pastures, simply means that we are not getting it right in this country.

“In the past, foreign doctors and health workers were coming to Nigeria to practice because we had a very good healthcare system but now, the reverse is the case.

“We need strong political will to address the problem. Because it does not make sense to spend so much resources to train a doctor and at the end, he leaves to render the services in another country.

“I can tell you that Nigerian doctors are well trained which is why they are been sought after all over the world with attractive pay and good working environment,” he said.

Onyekwelu urged the federal and state governments to reflect on ways to address these challenges and retain healthcare workers in the country.

According to him, once the causes of brain drain are addressed, the healthcare delivery system will be improved and strengthened.

“Manpower crisis is worsening our healthcare delivery system by the day and honestly, I do not blame them for leaving because we do not appreciate them here in Nigeria.

“The few of us who are here are already being overstretched. Now we have a ratio of one doctor to about 5,000 patients as against the recommended one doctor to 600 patients.

“This is telling on the healthcare delivery system in terms of lower patient satisfaction, quality of medical care and higher medical error rates.

“All we need to do is provide an enabling working environment, provide medical equipment, ensure they are well paid and provide security because they work round the clock,” he said.