OVER the years, Nigeria has been rated as a health worker-exporting country. Between April 2001 and March 2002, 432 nurses legally emigrated to work in Britain. By July 2003, about 20 percent of 10,364 registered pharmacists had left the country. Some estimates say one out of every five black doctors in the United Kingdom is Nigerian; while in the United States, it is one out of every 10. In 2002, Nigeria still did not meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations of nurse population ratio of 1:1,000. By then, the country had a ratio of 1: 20, 7000. In 2003, Nigerian nurses constituted one of the biggest groups of foreign -registered nurses working in the United Kingdom. In the last four years, Nigeria lost 21,988 health workers to the so-called 'brain-drain syndrome'. According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, within the last four years, 9,917 Nurses and Midwives had left to work overseas.From the recent disclosure by the Director (Nursing) Federal Ministry of Health, Mrs Mojisola Okodugha, the situation in 2011 is still no better. According to her, 'parts of the country are currently faced with shortage of nurses of all cadres and urgent action needed to be taken to effectively address this.' The effects of this migration of health professionals are palpable and stakeholders are warning that it is damaging to the growth of the country's healthcare system. Day-to-day patient care and quality heathcare delivery are seriously affected by the shortage of skilled personnel, especially in the public sector. There is also concern that the effort to tackle HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria could suffer major hitches. Campaigns to win the war against infant and maternal mortality are already being affected. Indeed, health practitioners feel that the shortage of professionals would be a setback in meeting the health-related targets of the Millennium Development Goals.A catalogue of problems referred to as 'push factors' have been identified as some of the causes of the rush to work overseas. These include poor welfare packages, lack of facilities and modern equipment in the hospitals, as well as decaying infrastructure. Others are lack of motivation, improper placement, inadequate training, and inefficient utilisation.A dwindling professional workforce takes much away from the country's socio-economic makeup. Development practitioners say health professionals and specialists contribute enormously to the economies of Europe and America. According to a 2005 World Health Organisation (WHO) Report, 'a typical Nigerian health practitioner in the US, contributes about $150, 000 (approx. N23 million) per year to the US economy.'We urge the Federal Government to turn its attention to practical initiatives that will encourage retention of health workers in the country. Improved training processes, improvement of compensation systems and conditions of service, are deliberate policies to provide modern healthcare facilities in public hospitals are some of the measures that will help. The use of incentives to promote the return of skilled health personnel back to the country and to invest their careers in Nigeria's public healthcare system and service delivery, is worth exploring. To achieve a reversal of the trend, Nigeria's healthcare managers must move away from paying lip-service to this challenge, and act decisively. In 2005, former Minister of Health, Professor Eyitayo Lambo noted that 'the health systems are fragile, human capacity is inadequate and the Federal Government was taking actions to redeem the situation.' Six years on, data reveal that there is no appreciable change.Government, as a matter of urgency, should see it as its paramount duty to create and invest in the appropriate enabling environment to retain the country's health workers, as well as to attract overseas-based professionals back home. It is only healthy citizens that will build the strong and vibrant country Nigeria is aspiring to be.
Click here to read full news..
