Hindered by poor conditions of Nigeria’s health care, bad remuneration and deteriorating hospital facilities, many medical doctors are abandoning the
Hindered by poor conditions of Nigeria’s health care, bad remuneration and deteriorating hospital facilities, many medical doctors are abandoning the country for greener pastures abroad, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA has alleged.
According to Punch, investigations revealed that although the exodus of doctors was not new, it had been on the increase in the last two years with countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as their destinations. It was learnt that the exodus had increased the workload of those who were still in government service, as many states had not been employing doctors.
The Nigerian Medical Association expressed concern saying in urban centres a doctor attended to 100 patients daily. In Lagos State, which has the highest number of doctors in the country, the state NMA says no fewer than between 50 and 60 doctors leave the service of the state government every six months.
The Chairman of the state NMA, Dr Saliu Oseni, lamented the failure of the state government to replace doctors, who had left its service for greener pastures abroad. Oseni said the failure to replace the doctors and employ new ones was affecting the service delivery of the NMA members in the state.
“The situation is affecting our members as they are being overworked. Although we have a lot of doctors that have left the country, we still have a lot of unemployed doctors. Some of the hospitals have not employed or replaced doctors that have left the system in the last two years,” Oseni said.
“The work that is supposed to be done by junior officers is being done by senior officers and currently in Lagos State hospitals, you see a doctor attending to close to 100 patients per eight-hour work in a clinic which is not good for the doctor and the patients.
“The ideal patient-doctor ratio is supposed to 1:500, but what we have currently in Lagos State-owned hospitals is one doctor to over 5000 patients. You cannot create an ideal environment and you want to judge the environment by the ideal standard. If I am going to see 80 patients in eight hours, there is no way I’ll follow the routine properly.
“By standard, a doctor needs 15 to 30 minutes to attend to a patient very well. This means in eight hours, I would only be able to see 15 patients and in between that time if I need to do some procedures that means I will see less than that. By labour law, we are even entitled to a one-hour break, but most doctors in Lagos State-owned hospitals don’t even have time for a break,” Oseni said.
A medical officer at the General Hospital Ifako-Ijaiye, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said doctors’ workload was too much, adding that it had made many of his colleagues to seek greener pastures.
He stated, “At times when people hear that doctors go abroad for greener pastures, all they think is the money, but I tell you money is not everything. Conditions of our work are overwhelming. That is why suicide and depression are common among those of us that are still in the system.”
A source at the Gwamna Awwan General Hospital, Kakuri, Kaduna said that poor remuneration, insecurity and work progression had forced doctors and other health workers out of the state.
“Who wants to be killed? or who wants to be stunted in terms of career progression?” he asked.
“On the average, studies have shown that about 700 doctors leave the country every year. During the recruitment Saudi Arabia did recently, thousands of our doctors were struggling to leave the country.”
