By Nosakhare Agbonigiarhuoyi
The Executive Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has called for bonds for healthcare personnel in Nigeria in order to raise standards of service delivery and reduce brain drain.
According to him, this will also be a way for them to pay back the country for subsidizing the resources for their medical training before they decide whether or not to leave the country in search of greener pastures.
Obaseki said this while responding to the shortage of health workers in medical facilities in the country due to migration, when the President-elect, World Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Benin City.
Health systems can only function with health workers; improving health service coverage and realizing the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is dependent on their availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality.
World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates a projected shortfall of 15 million health workers by 2030, mostly in low- and lower-middle income countries.
In his remarks, the governor commended the president-elect, who had come to intimate him on his success as President of the Association, for his strides in the medical world.
“We’ve been quite concerned at this current trend of massive recruitment of our leading medical personnel.
“There must be some ethical conduct and ethical oversight; because like most of you here, you were trained by the Government of Nigeria; and for most of you, your medical training was subsidized by the Government of Nigeria, and to just see such a quantum and wholesale of recruitment without any consideration for the investment that the country has made in the people, I don’t think it’s fair.”
“In most countries in the world, people are bonded, people are made to spend time to payback, and even if they are going to be recruited and taken out, there are some benefits, there are some considerations that come back to the home country”, he added.
According to a study by WHO titled “The health workforce status in the WHO African region: Findings of a cross-sectional study” published in the British Medical Journal Global Health and which surveyed 47 African countries (including Nigeria), shortage of health workers in Africa will reach 6.1 million by 2030. This represents a 45 percent increase from the last projections in 2013.
Mr. Obaseki suggested that government must make plans to replace the medical personnel that are leaving the Nigerian healthcare system.
On his part, Dr. Enabulele, who was accompanied by other medical personnel of repute in the State, including the Chief Medical Director, Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital (IUTH), Prof. Bazuaye Godwin Nosakhare, commended the governor for his achievements in the Edo State health sector, and for the proper motivation given to health personnel in the State.
He also lauded the governor for fulfilling some of his electoral promises in terms of transformation in the health sector.
Speaking on his victory, Enabulele said: “Your Excellency, the main reason why I’m here is to let you know that in October last year, we competed for a position at the World Medical Association. That was the first time we were having that kind of momentous drive, and it was for the position of the president of the World Medical Association.
“At the end of a six day contest, we emerged victorious and this is very historic because it will be the first time for a Nigerian and a West African to wear the cap of such global body since its inception in 1947.
“We saw it as a victory not only for Nigeria but a victory for West Africa and Africa; and it gives us the opportunity to make the needed impact to accelerate the health system development, not only in Nigeria but indeed in Africa and other Low-Middle Income Countries (LMIC).”
According to Dr. Enabulele, his inauguration will take place on the 7th of October, 2022 in Berlin, Germany.
