Sade Oguntola
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire says President Muhammadu Buhari has laid a strong foundation upon which the health sector can continue to build resilient institutions even as the Federal Government instructed a ‘one-on-one replacement’ for health workers that emigrated to improve healthcare delivery in Nigeria’s hospitals.
Ehanire stated this in Ibadan on Monday while presenting a letter of reappointment as Chief Medical Director of University College Hospital, (UCH) to Professor Abiodun Otegbayo for another four years term in office and subsequent inauguration of seven projects at the hospital.
The commissioned projects are one in-patient mammogram machine, one out-patient mammogram machine, one 64-slice CT machine, two autoclave sterilizers, a state-of-the-art and fully equipped molecular laboratory, a nurse tutors’ practical demonstration building, and a pressure swing adsorption oxygen plant.
Ehanire stated that the Federal Government has given the privilege to health institutions to embark on ‘one-on-one replacement’ for health workers and medical personnel to solve the problem of emigration of health workers to other countries.
The Minister added that the Federal government is reorganizing its internship and residency training programmes to ensure more doctors in Nigeria public hospitals, even as it is looking at how to improve conditions of service and to engage Nigerians in Diaspora a scheme known as ‘Knowledge and Skill Repatriation’ to provide services.
According to him, “It is true that we are suffering an exodus of health workers. First, I want to say it is not new. As far back as the 1990s, Nigerians were going to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other places. So, it is not a new thing.
“The second point is that it is not peculiar to Nigeria. It is a global phenomenon. There is a huge mobility of the labour force – pharmacists, laboratory scientists and doctors of all cadres are moving. It is a problem for all countries, not only for us.
“But how are we trying to solve this problem? Let us analyse. Are we training enough doctors here? Yes. Almost 3,000 doctors are graduating from both private and public universities. We are organizing internships and we are trying to organize residency programmes
“The federal government has now emphasized the one-for-one replacement. If you lose one doctor, you replace him with another doctor. I want to urge you all not to abuse this programme. If one doctor goes out, replace him with another of the same calibre.”
The minister commended the board and management of UCH on the initiatives and milestones achievements while he charged them to recapture the past reputation of the hospital as not just as the premier hospital in Ibadan but as a leading destination for cutting-edge healthcare in Africa.
In his remarks, Otegbayo said the projects symbolised the important steps President Muhammadu Buhari had taken over the years in repositioning the healthcare service delivery to Nigerians.
He said: “These projects were envisioned in my strategic plan to improve clinical services to elevate the hospital from a tertiary hospital to a quaternary level, and I am delighted to witness their completion and commissioning.
He was optimistic that the projects would “stem the tide of much talked about health tourism and brain drain in the health sector due to poor working environment.”
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
