FG Urged To Improve Incentive For Health Workers

The federal government has been urged to improve incentives for health worker as part of efforts to stop brain drain nationwide.

The Managing Director, Alpha.Africa Mr Christian Onyeka-Ugwu made the call over the weekend when he and his team visited the Nyanya General Hospital and paid off medical bills of patients and donated basic toiletries to patients particularly children at the hospital.

LEADERSHIP reports that over 16,000 to 19,000 Nigerian doctors have migrated abroad in recent years (with thousands leaving annually, notably to the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Germany.

Records similarly show that Nigeria has approximately 55,000 actively practicing doctors for a population exceeding 230 million, yielding a ratio of roughly 1 doctor per 3,474 to 9,000 people—far below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of 17 per 10,000.

Meanwhile Nigeria requires nearly 400,000 doctors to meet international healthcare standards.

Onyeka-Ugwu said:

“Well, my advice to the government as regards the brain drain happening in the country currently is to support the medical personnel, you know, give them better incentive, increase their pay and support them in a different ways because we’ve been hearing their hazard allowance is laughable compared to other countries of the world. So, they should be able to earn a better salary that is competitive worldwide.”

Speaking on the donation, he said the move was part of the firm’s corporate social responsibility in commemoration of its one year anniversary.

His words:

“We are here with our team to support those in need, the patients in this hospital as part of our corporate social responsibility.It is to support the people, the patients in this hospital and to encourage them that, this is just a phase, they can still go on to become whatever they want to become after this period.”

He continued:

“We chose pediatrics because children are quite important to us and they don’t deserve any form of hardship. The reason we are also bringing out cash to pay for hospital bills as well as giving the beverages and toiletries, it is very important. We don’t want our kids to pass through any form of difficulties because their parents couldn’t afford their medical bills.”

He noted that the firm’s anniversary celebration earmarked about N8m to support people in need.

“Yeah, this is not the first time we are organising this kind of event. Although we used to support some NGOs that come to us, they go to the villages and do this kind of outreach, especially health, pertaining health. Because it is very important at this point to look out for those that are not feeling too well, especially in this time and season, things are not too good. And so, we decided to just give a hand to those that are in need because we believe that health is wealth.”

He called on privileged citizens to support people in need in order to make the society a better place.

“Well, it is personal to give helping hands, but it is also heroic to assist people that do not have the capacity or the ability to pay you back other than to say thank you. So, I’m calling on well-meaning Nigerians to also keen and support the government in eradicating this kind of poverty, but also looking at the health sector and seeing how we can put us together to minimise the negative impacts as regards health challenges,” he said.

Mr Ugwu speaking on the experience in the year, he lamented the challenges faced in the environment but thanked God for wisdom to navigate.