Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Health, says henceforth, health workers travelling abroad to seek greener pastures must resign their appointments before relocating.
According to him, the era of health workers exiting to other countries in search of better offers after applying for a leave of absence is no longer acceptable.
The Minister stated this on Saturday during his visit to the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The ban on the leave of absence for health workers, he noted, sprung from the executive order issued by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as part of drastic steps to combat the challenge of brain drain fondly called ‘Japa Syndrome’ confronting the nation’s health sector.
He furthered that the Federal Government has commenced the production of manpower in the health sector such that the annual enrolment of nurses which used to be 28,000 is now 68,000 and that by the end of this year, it would have gone up to 120,000.
Speaking on the challenge of manpower shortages, Alausa said, “The government is not unmindful of the ‘Japa’ effect on our manpower in the health sector and the President has ordered for massive production of manpower such that when people go, there will always be replacement.
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“It is against this background that we are working intensely on the enrolment of our nurses. What used to be 28,000 is now 68,000 and our intention is to take it to 120,000 by the end of the year, so there will always be abundant skilled manpower to take over from those leaving the job.
“We have equally doubled our enrolment for doctors, dentistry, pharmacists among others
“Again, we didn’t say anyone who wants to move or japa to the UK or Australia to take up appointments there should not go, it is a free world.”
“However, you cannot eat your cake and have it. If you are going, just resign your appointments with the Federal Government, rather than applying for leave of absence, that is the Presidential executive order that has been communicated to all the Chief Medical Directors of Federal Government-owned health facilities to implement.
“The problem with the leave of absence is that such a fellow is out there in the UK or Australia working, making money but his name still appears on the payment roll of the government and so to replace him is difficult because he is still being considered as a staff whereas he has left the country.
“So, to solve this problem, the President has directed that health workers going abroad to work should just resign their appointments and not apply for leave of absence. This way, you won’t be blocking others who want to work and of course piling burdens for your colleagues that you left behind,” he added.
