Brain drain: Disaster looms in heat sector, NARDs warns

From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia

National Association of Resident Doctors (NARDs) has raised the alarm that disaster looms in Nigeria’s health sector unless the current brain drain which has seen medical doctors leave the country in droves was immediately halted.

The association warned that unless urgent measures were taken to reverse the trend, it would lead to a situation whereby hospitals would be operating without medical doctors to attend to patients. he said the country was in short supply of medical doctors.

Newly elected National President of NARDS, Dr. Innocent Emeka Orji, made this known on Saturday, October 1, 2022, while addressing newsmen on the outcome of the 42nd Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the association held in Umuahia, Abia State.

“Little statistics at our disposal show that in this country, it is like every week, we have a doctor or a nurse or youth under health care professionals leaving the shores of this country. It is a crisis situation we are talking about and if we do not do something drastic to halt it, or reverse the trend, we are going to come to a point where we come to a hospital we will not see any doctor, we will not see any nurse. What are we going to do? We start consulting non-professionals. So, it is a very disastrous situation and of course, we have repeated severally what we know should be done to halt this,” Dr. Orji Said, while responding to questions by newsmen.

“One of the things we came up with was the need for government to increase monetary funding to the health sector,” he added.

He recalled that “in 2001, the various Ministers of Health of all African countries converged on Abuja to discuss ways to improve the healthcare sector in the African continent. They came up with a position popularly known as the Abuja declaration 2001; that for any government to effectively improve the health sector of the country, that the minimum funding that is required of the annual budgetary allocation is 15 per cent.

“From then till now, I could not even recall any year Nigeria got up to that percentage. Little wonder why we have the current challenges we have in the health sector. No matter how the healthcare professionals continue to try on their part, if there are no incentives for them to work with, you will continue to have problems, we are going to continue to have brain drain. Of course, we are going to continue to have industrial disharmony because you need that adequate monetary allocation to improve equipment, manpower, personnel and welfare. And once you do not do that, you are going to continue to have problems,” he explained.

Dr. Orji disclosed that the new National NARDs Committee, was planning to engage with the federal government to sort out the issue of the brain drain and other pressing issues.

“As NARDS, we believe in negotiations, we believe in consultation, we believe in reaching out. It is only once in a while that if we do all these and government appears not to listen, because of the enormity of the challenges that we face, we are in the health sector, we know what is happening there, the public may not know and government may not know; so, if you keep talking and nobody is listening to you, you have no option than to do things that will draw the attention to what you are talking about,” he said.

The new NARDs leader declared that his members love their patients and the country and “would do all within its power to ensure that citizens of this country will benefit from their own government; so that we can reduce this brain drain, we can reduce this medical tourism that has become the order of the day in this country.”

He said that there were signs that government was attending to their demands and that if they failed to meet such demands, the association would take concrete steps to press home their demands.

“We know that already, there are signs that some of the demands that we have been making in the past, government has promised to look into them. We are going to follow up on them closely and if after sometime we do not see that genuine effort continuing and getting concrete results, we are going to present our problems before the public and present it before our members. And make no mistake about it, any directives we are given, will be carried out conclusively,” he assured.

In a communiqué issued after the four-day meeting which started on Wednesday, September 26 to Saturday, October 1, 2022, the AGM said it welcomed the Federal Government’s committee set up to mitigate the brain drain in the health sector, pledging that the association was prepared to make meaningful contributions.

The Communiqué   which was read by the new President, Dr. Orji, called for increased funding of the healthcare sector in the country, to the tune of 15% budgetary allocation in line with the 2001 Abuja declaration for healthcare financing in Africa, and global best practices.

The AGM appreciated the Federal government for the payment of the 2022 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) which was made at the old rate and therefore urged the National Assembly to ensure its passage into the 2023 appropriation act to enable seamless payment of the arrears of 2022 and 2023 MRTF at the new rate.

Part of the communiqué read: “The AGM urges the Federal Government to expedite the payment of the new Hazard Allowance as contained in the circular from the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) dated 22nd December 2021 with reference number WC/S/04/S.218/11/406 and the arrears thereof.

“The AGM asks the Federal Government to urgently pay the skipping arrears for 2014, 2015 and 2016 to deserving members as the patience of the association is waning concerning this matter.

“The AGM demands an immediate review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) given the current economic situation in the country, and also in line with the agreed terms from the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that it be reviewed regularly.

“The AGM appreciates the Executive Governor of Abia State, His Excellency Victor Okezie Ikpeazu (PhD) for the payment of seven (7) months out of 24 months of salaries owed to resident doctors in Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) this week and we hope that he keeps the promise to pay (2) months’ salary arrears monthly until the arrears are cleared.

“The AGM calls on the Federal Government, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum,

Stakeholders, and well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Governors of Ekiti (3 months), Imo (10 months) and Ondo (5 months) States to urgently pay arrears of salaries and allowances owed our members in the State Tertiary Health Institutions as stated above, as this is becoming embarrassing.”

New National Officers Committee (NOC) members elected for the 2022-2023 executive year during the AGM were: President – Dr Orji Emeka Innocent; First Vice-President – Dr ND-Ezuma Nnamdi; Second Vice-President – Dr Jumbo Enefiok Hezekiah; Secretary-General – Dr Chikezie Kelechi; Assistant Secretary-General – Dr Nura Umar Aliyu; Treasurer Dr Agazie Kelechi; Financial Secretary – Dr Oru Oru Inetsol; Publicity and Social Secretary – Dr Umar Musa; Editor Dr Omoniyi Ayooluwa Emmanuel; Deputy Editor – Dr Adeyeye Abosede Grace; while the immediate Past President, Dr Dare Godiya Ishaya and the immediate Past Secretary-General, Dr Suleiman Abiodun Ismail, are ex-officio members of the new exco.