Nigeria: Plans for mandatory five-year service have Nigerian doctors furious
By Ahmad Hadizat Omayoza, Mamos Nigeria
A new bill has been labeled “obnoxious” for requiring medical graduates in Nigeria to serve for five years in an effort to prevent doctors from moving to the UK and the US.
The bill passed its second reading in the lower house of the Nigerian parliament last month, and a public hearing on it could take place within the next few days.
However, the plan is being met with opposition from civil society organizations and the doctors’ union. Dr. Innocent Orji, president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, described it as “obnoxious and outlandish.” We will not support the bill. It is necessary to immediately withdraw the bill. It is a misuse of citizens’ cash.”
However, the government is moving forward, hoping to set a timetable for recouping investment in the education system and address the significant issue of medical professionals leaving the country.
A statement addressed to medical students and doctors has been posted on social media and mainstream media by Ganiyu Johnson, a lawmaker and leading supporter of the bill.
“The public authority has put such a lot of cash in preparing these clinical specialists,” he said. ” We expect you to be able to give back to society within five years if the government paid for your education.
Strikes in the country’s health sector have become more frequent and extended over the past few years. Despite the government’s promise to review pay every five years, doctors’ take-home pay hasn’t changed in over a decade. Work instability has likewise developed. ” The doctors left because of these factors. I don’t think the public authority figures out this yet,” Chidiebere Echieh, an expert cardiothoracic specialist at the College of Calabar, said.
According to Echieh, his own career reflected his worries. He received his medical degree in 2007, but despite continuing his education, his salary has not increased since. Even though he is a senior surgeon with a lot of experience and expertise, he only gets paid about £800 per month, which is a lot less than what medical graduates in most developed countries get paid.
Echieh traveled to the United States in 2022 for a postgraduate program at the University of Arizona. While there, he observed the disparity in health technology between his own nation and the United States, he claimed. Another factor that drives Nigerian doctors abroad is this one.
Nigeria does not have access to numerous healthcare technologies. For individuals – clinical faculty – to have direct experience utilizing these advancements, they need to go external Nigeria,” Echieh said. ” Regardless of how long you practice in Nigeria, without active experience of these advancements, your authority will be restricted.”
In general wellbeing, holes in innovation become demise counts. Specialists have detailed an ascent in injury and sadness, which they guarantee is brought about by such a large number of avoidable passings across Nigerian emergency clinics.
Orji stated, “It is painful for a doctor who knows what to do to see their patient dying because the appropriate technology is not available to save those lives.” It makes wretchedness watch individuals pass on from effectively treatable medical issue because of an absence of fundamental innovation and hardware.”
Doctors and the government now agree that the situation is at a crisis point. Nigeria only has 24,000 licensed doctors, despite the country’s 218 million inhabitants..
