The Nigerian health sector is sitting on a gunpowder as there is a subsequent exodus of competent doctors after their rigorous training programme, leaving the shore of Nigeria for greener pasture – mostly to the UK, the US and Canada where the medical professionals are grossly paid.
The migration of doctor as led to a devastating physician-patient ratio which was around 1:4,000 to 1:5,000 in a survey carried out by NOIPolls – a distant reality from WHO recommendation of 1:600. This increasing doctor-patient ratio is the major factor contributing to the occurrence of avoidable causalities, longer wait times, and general deterioration of the Nigerian health scheme.
From the statistics, Nigeria has 80,000 registered doctors and more than 50,000 are practicing abroad. 92 per cent of Nigerian doctors who are presently in the country are considering finding a job abroad and 70 per cent of them are making plans to leave for seek international employment and are taking exams to that effect.
To Stem (Reduce) the Emigration of Medical Practitioners in Nigeria the following could be leveraged on;
Increase in Wages
To stem the brain drain in Nigeria’s medical sector, former head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Kemal Dervis, has urged Nigeria to improve public sector wages because a Nigerian doctor is ten times poorer than his counterpart in Europe and has more patients to attend to.
Improved Training Programmes
Another measure is improved training programmes where doctors can get to be updated with the latest technology. This will increase their job satisfaction – they see reasons why they should stay back because the country is interested in their career growth.
Improved Facilities and Equipment
Nigerian government should invest in modern equipment for medical facilities, particularly hospitals, as well as incentives such as access to housing and land and a clear-cut career path for health workers, especially those in rural areas. They must have an opportunity to rise.
More Allocated Funds
According to a WHO report, Africa records more than 24% of the global burden of disease but has access to only 3% of health workers and less than 1% of the world’s health funds.
In an effort to salvage this situation, the Government should improve facilities at public hospitals. An overview of hospitals in Nigeria does not encourage the doctors passionate about saving lives. These health centres have inadequate facilities for doctors to function maximally.
Government International Partnership
The government should create bilateral ties with countries with developed facilities so that health professionals can visit there, learn new technologies and innovation and return back to his home country. This will help foster global interaction amongst Nigerian doctors and their counterparts an eventually stem brain drain.
Proper Delegation of Tasks
The brain drain in the Nigeria health sector can be curb if government fosters relationship the private and public sector. Management of hospitals should be left to private hands who are more efficiency oriented.
The health sector has the potential of generating billions of dollars if improved. Unfortunately, Nigeria has gradually become a graveyard for the affluent who go out of the country to expend millions of dollars on health-related issues which could be handled if there are good medical facilities in the country.
Sadly, the brain drain is expected to continue of the Nigerian government do not take proactive measures to stem the brain drain in our health sector.