17th January, 2020
The National Association of General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGMDP), Kwara branch has called for improved welfare and upgrade of facilities to tackle the menace of brain drain.
Adebayo Lakadr, Chairman of the association, on Friday said that bad welfare package, lack of working tools and facilities were responsible for the mass movement of doctors outside the country.
“In terms of facilities and welfare, the government has not done well for us. We are trained on how to help our people, but when you don’t have the tools to use, then there is no way we can help.
“I want to implore all relevant authorities to please assist because it is our community; we have to make it the best.
“There is a way we can stop brain drain; when you have the right thing to work with and other associated factors, people won’t rush out,” Lakadr said.
He added that the country was losing a lot of doctors that could make the health system in Nigeria better than other countries.
“Our government can still do better in terms of welfare package; this is because it is majorly welfare packages that are making doctors leave the country.
“When you are working in an unconducive environment here and another person is working in another conducive environment and getting four times the amount you are getting, you will want to leave.
“Over there, they have all it takes to have a stress free work and all their facilities are automated, you don’t have to go manual at all; and they are rewarded abundantly at the end of the day.
“But here, you have to make sure you treat your people by permutation and doing all sort of things to make sure that your patients get treated and at the end of the day, you are not remunerated well,” Lakadr said.
The medical expert said except these issues were tackled, brain drain would still persist.
“Except these issues are tackled, brain drain will continue to persist. We implore the government to just do better.
“Every day, we are losing colleagues that have been effectively trained, that are supposed to pass down the training to other medical officers,’’ he said.
He urged doctors to be resilient and hope for a change in the system.
“It is this so-called bad system that made you, produced you and facilitated your training, why don’t you give back to your community?
“But, I understand their plight because everybody is looking at the returns. Rome wasn’t built in a day, all the countries you are running to also started very crude.
“Let us keep believing that things will get better, all of us cannot leave our fatherland,” he said.