Medical students now plan japa before graduation — NMA

T****he Nigerian Medical Association has raised the alarm over the growing migration of doctors, saying medical students now begin planning to leave the country even before completing their training.

The NMA President, Prof Afekhide-Ernest Omoti, disclosed this while responding to inquiries from Sunday PUNCH, stressing that the development posed a serious threat to the country’s health system and required urgent intervention by the Federal Government.

Omoti said the situation had become so entrenched that some Nigerian medical students were already preparing for foreign qualifying examinations before completing their studies, with the intention of relocating soon after obtaining professional registration.

“The Nigerian medical student, even before he graduates, is already planning how to leave the country because he’s seen what is ahead of him, that there is no future ahead,” he said.

According to him, young doctors often begin writing foreign examinations during their internship so they can leave the country immediately after completing the registration process.

The NMA president said the trend could not continue, urging the government to create conditions that would give young doctors confidence in building their careers in the country.

“We cannot continue like that. We want that junior doctor, or that medical student, to look ahead of him and see that the doctors ahead of him are living fairly comfortably, and are not living in fear, they are not living in penury,” Omoti said.

He said the NMA had submitted a proposal for a minimum retention package to the government, adding that the association was not demanding salaries equivalent to what doctors earn in developed countries.

“We’re not asking that you give us what is equivalent to what people earn abroad, but we’re saying give us what will make the doctor happy to remain in the country, and that amount is not that much,” he said.

Omoti maintained that most doctors would prefer to remain in the country if their welfare, safety and working conditions were improved.

“Every doctor wants to remain in this country, I can assure you, hardly any doctor ordinarily would want to leave. We want to stay. But for many people, they just cannot do it anymore,” he said.

Omoti therefore urged the Federal Government to do everything within its power to retain medical professionals, noting that the country invests heavily in training doctors only to lose them to other countries.

“The government spends so much money to train an average doctor, and these doctors leave for free. Who loses? The government loses; the Nigerian people lose. It is important to do everything that can train these doctors to retain them,” he said.

The warning comes amid continuing concerns over the country’s health workforce and the migration of doctors and other health professionals seeking better remuneration, working conditions, career opportunities and improved welfare abroad.

The NMA has repeatedly called for measures to address the factors driving health workers out of the country, including improved remuneration, better infrastructure, safer working environments and stronger incentives for retention.

The association also recently advocated a higher retirement age for clinical health workers, arguing that retaining experienced doctors would help cushion the impact of the manpower shortage while the government works to train and retain younger professionals.

Omoti also spoke about attacks and harassment of healthcare workers, saying the frequency of such incidents had become alarming in recent years.

He said a national policy against intimidation and harassment of healthcare workers had been developed and released following the work of a committee on the issue.

According to him, the policy places responsibility on hospitals to provide security for healthcare workers and ensure that perpetrators of attacks are prosecuted and made to compensate affected workers.

He also called for increased security, including the installation of closed-circuit television cameras and adequate security personnel in emergency areas.

Omoti attributed some attacks on doctors to grief, frustration, poor communication and misconceptions among patients and their relatives.

“You can’t expect that everybody who comes to a hospital, no matter how bad it is, must survive. So, the fact that you are grieving doesn’t mean you take your anger on the doctor or on the healthcare professional,” he said.

He urged hospitals to improve communication with patients and relatives, particularly about the limitations created by inadequate manpower.

“Because of the limited workforce, the only person there in the emergency, with so many patients, and then you expect that one doctor will divide himself into 10, and attend to 10 patients at once. You can’t do that,” he said.