The Chief Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, James Omietimi, has suggested that the Federal Government should increase the retirement age for health workers to seventy or eighty years as a means to discourage doctors from leaving Nigeria for greener pastures abroad.
Speaking to members of the Federated Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Bayelsa State Council, at the weekend in Yenagoa during a project inspection visit, Dr Omietimi said that with better pay, standard infrastructure, and modern working equipment for health workers, the Federal Government would be able to stop doctors from switching their nationality for greener pastures abroad.
He assured that, in spite of these challenges, the FMC Yenagoa is ready to pursue its core mandate, which is to provide clinical services to patients, not only adequately but timely, train staff in all areas, and encourage research in modern medical fields.
Speaking further, he said the FMC has not done better in the area of research because of lack of funding, disclosing that they have sent some doctors to study IVF procedure and that the hospital is currently tendering IVF services and its price is slightly cheaper than other hospitals in the state
He said, “There is not much space to build new structures in the FMC. If you want to do new projects, you can only build it upward. So space is a constraint for us because the hospital is limited by a creek at the back and a federal road at the front.
“But we are ready to pursue our core mandate, which is to provide clinical services to people who come here, not just adequately but timely. Another mandate we have is to train people in all areas. The third area we are doing is research.
“But we have not done better in this area because of lack of funding. We have sent some doctors to study IVF procedures. So currently, we are tendering IVF services, and they are slightly cheaper than those at other hospitals in the state.
“The major challenge is the Japa Syndrome. A lot of people who render clinical services are leaving the country. Doctors, nurses, lab scientists, and physiotherapists are leaving in their droves every day.
“This is a major challenge, and we need to replace them. And to replace them, we need the approval of the federal government, which we have not gotten. So, we are suffering from a manpower shortage.
“There are a lot of unclaimed corpses in our mortuary. There are so many that we are overburdened. Most times, when people come, they just dump their dead and run away.
“We have some corpses that have been abandoned here for over 5 years. Some time ago, the federal government said they wanted to come over to renovate and expand the place, but they have yet to come.
“We also have manpower issues in that place. We used to have three consultants in the mortuary, but two of them have relocated to Saudi Arabia. So we have just one consultant in the mortuary. We have a very active cardiology unit in the hospital.
“The cardiology unit usually opens on Mondays and Thursdays, and it happens to be the busiest unit in the hospital. As you all know, hypertension is the most common cardiovascular ailment in the world.
“Many people are walking around with hypertension without knowing it, and that is why it is called a silent killer. Each day the unit is open, we attend to 80 patients, and it is a burden for the staff there because they close very late.
“Most of the patients we attend to are not people who walk into the hospital because they know that they have hypertension. 70 per cent of the people we attend to are people who were admitted for other ailments only to discover that they have hypertension.
“We have an IVF clinic in the hospital, and we have had nine live births. That clinic is doing well as I speak with you, and our rates are cheaper. We encourage people to come here because we are having good results.
“We are also looking at ways to have discussions with the government of Bayelsa State to see areas where they can provide support for the FMC. Even though people say the federal government allocates money to run the FMC, it is not Abuja residents who access clinical services in Yenagoa; it is the residents of Bayelsa who enjoy the services of the FMC.
“What makes doctors leave the country is that people always go to places where they can find greener pastures. Insecurity is another reason why people leave the country in droves. Also, doctors deserve better pay, standard infrastructure, modern working equipment, and an increase in the retirement age for health workers.
“I say so because some people can still render clinical services even at the age of 70. In some countries, doctors continue to provide clinical services even to the age of 80.”
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