Dr. Iziaq Salako, Minister of State for Health, is hopeful that the current wave of healthcare workers leaving the country, which is commonly known as the "japa syndrome," will soon stop.
He said that the policies and reforms put in place by President Bola Tinubu's government gave him this faith. He thinks that these changes will make Nigeria's healthcare system better.
During a working visit to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) on Monday, Salako said that even though the economy has caused some healthcare workers to look for work abroad, Nigeria still has good pay for doctors and nurses.
"Given Nigeria's economic situation, health workers are some of the best-paid workers," he said. But he made it clear that raising wages would not be enough to solve the problem.
Call for healthcare workers to be patriotic Salako told doctors and nurses to be patriotic and think about the long-term benefits of staying in Nigeria. "Home is best, East or West." "You are a second-class citizen no matter where you go outside your country," he said.
He agreed that economic problems are a reason why professionals leave, he stressed that their commitment to the country and their love for their job should also play a role in their choice.
However, the minister also said that if doctors' pay went up a lot, other professionals, like teachers, would want similar pay raises, which could put a strain on the income of the country.
UBTH CMD Sounds the Alarm About Staffing Shortages During the visit, Prof. Darlington Obaseki, who is the Chief Medical Director of UBTH, talked about his worries about the hospital's hiring problem.
He said that UBTH is having a hard time finding enough medical staff, even though the hospital is known for offering high-quality, low-cost care. "There are more than 500 patients right now, but only 750 nurses working across three shifts," Obaseki said.
"That's not even enough to cover the clinics, operating rooms, and inpatient care." He also said that it's hard to give the best care because the hospital only has about 250 experts and less than 300 resident doctors. As a result of the lack of healthcare workers, Obaseki urged the government to act quickly.
He warned that if they did not, it could affect the quality of care patients receive and the delivery of services. The government's promise to solve healthcare problems Salako agreed that there were problems with staffing and said that the government was working to make things better in state hospitals.
He talked about how creatively UBTH dealt with power problems and promised that the government would give more money to public hospitals. "Health is the essence of life, and the sector's problems can only be solved with enough money," he said.
At the end, the minister said that the government's policies, especially those that focus on building up people's skills, would help stop the current trend of healthcare workers moving to other states. "Now that the rules are in place, things will soon get better," he promised.
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