The President of the Postgraduate Medical College Fellows’ Association, Professor Akinsanya Osibogun has tasked the Nigerian Government to focus more on retaining skilled medical professionals in the country. Osibogun stated this while speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the 17th Annual Scientific Conference and All Fellows’ Congress (ASCAF) in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, North Central, Nigeria.
READ ALSO: Unilorin charges graduating optometrists to prioritise eyesight restoration
He observed that all around the world there is high demand for skilled professionals in the health sector especially in the UK, the US and Canada. The association’s President advised the government on the need to stem the “Japa syndrome”, where skilled professionals are leaving the country for greener pastures abroad.
“To retain your skilled professionals, you must give enough incentives to keep them here. And incentives are both financial and non-financial,” he said.
Osigbogun identified poor remuneration and lack of adequate infrastructure as major challenges confronting medical practitioners.
“We know that government alone can not do it. So, all stakeholders have to put in place mechanisms to improve the health sector and retain people we have trained in the country stressing that the only way to retain them is by improving their work environment so that all equipment and tools they need to render service would be available.
According to him, medical practitioners have to be well remunerated and the environment must be conducive to keep them in the country and lamented that younger doctors are migrating out of the country. He stated that the country needs those younger doctors to be available for the nation to train them to become specialists and remain in Nigeria.
“As a country, we need to come up with plans to ensure that required equipment is available geopolitically, statewide or by ward,” he advised.
He enjoined government at all tiers to improve their remuneration for health care workers, a conducive working environment and tools and equipment.
In his welcome address, the Chairman, of the Local Organising Committee of the ASCAF conference, Dr Foluwasayo Ologe stated that the theme of the programme is apt as there is a need to improve health care financing in Nigeria. According to him, there is a need for public-private partnerships to support the healthcare system in the country.
Ologe who is a Professor of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Ilorin assert that the days of crude medicine are long gone as technology has taken over. According to him, a lot of technology goes into medicine adding that through technology, robotic surgery helps in surgical intervention without the doctor being near the patients.
Also Speaking, a Consultant Chemical Pathologist of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Professor Adekunle Okesina explained that the primary function of the College is to produce specialists in all branches of medicine and dentistry and oversees the postgraduate medical education and training of pathologists in Nigeria through its Faculty of Pathology.
The theme of the programme is entitled: “Improving Health Care Financing In Nigeria’, with a sub-theme; ‘Technology in Medicine and Public-Private Partnership”.
