The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has warned that the nation’s skyrocketing brain drain wave may culminate in the country resorting to hiring medical doctors to treat local patients in the future.

The NMA also warned that if urgent steps were not taken to fix the deteriorating situation, it may lead to total collapse of the health system in the country.

The Oyo State NMA Chairman, Dr. Ayotunde Fasunla, raised the alarm in Ibadan on Tuesday, August 16, at the official opening of the 2022 scientific conference, titled: ‘National Health Authority Act – The Sound Bites’.

The event has a sub-theme: ‘Industrial Harmony in the Health Sector – A Necessity for Health Sector Growth.”

The body also called for a state of emergency in the health sector with a view to holistically addressing the menace of pull and push factors, responsible for the mass migration of health personnel to Europe, America, the Middle East, and other African countries.

Fasunla stated further that the poor state of the government-owned hospitals in the country was largely due to poor funding.


He noted that the budgetary allocation to the health sector in 2022 was approximately 4.2 percent of the national budget.

According to him, the figure falls significantly below the recommendation of the African Union (AU) at the Abuja Declaration of a minimum of 15 percent. The situation, he said, was worse at the state level.

He said: “The infrastructure deficit is such that some of our hospitals spend a significant amount of their internally generated revenues on diesel to ensure power supply.

“There is the scarcity of funds to apply for equipment upgrade, manpower development or even recruitment of new staff.

“Many of our hospitals are grossly under-staffed. Even the process of replacing migrating staff is bogged down by a rigid and insensitive government bureaucracy.

“It is our plea to the government to commit more funds to the health sector so that the system does not collapse.

https://newsroundtheclock.com/nma-warns-nigeria-might-have-to-import-doctors-in-future-due-to-brain-drain/

Perfectly said.

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has warned that the nation’s skyrocketing brain drain wave may culminate in the country resorting to hiring medical doctors to treat local patients in the future.

Lol that would be hilarious. When you refuse to pay local talent you have either pay extra or find doctors from a poorer country that want to immigrate. Both scenarios sound weird but ok we'll see.

So?

We will survive. Docs love to feel over important.

It's this said medical association that also allow corruption and total disregard for people's lives in all general hospitals... Imagine the restaurant belonging to a doctor and even some drugs are deliberately not stocked in the pharmacy just for some senior doctors with godfathers to turn it to a private business. The whole Nigerian system is in shambles and needs a complete turn around

Not only doctors, nurses and most science related professionals are on that same table
I have a lot of colleagues that are ready leave this country once APC wins again. I mean people who are even doing very well in Nigeria. Meanwhile the poor man keep carrying tribalism on the head.