The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has attributed poor remuneration and inadequate health facilities as some of the major reasons for mass exodus of medical doctors. The FCT Chapter NMA Chairman, Dr Ekpe Phillips, said this at the opening of the Annual Health Week of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) on Wednesday in Abuja.
Phillips described the pay package of doctors in Nigeria as poor, stressing the need for government to increase the remuneration of doctors to address the challenge. He noted that many doctors who left the country to take up foreign appointment did so due to inadequate facilities among other factors.
He listed mass unemployment, lack of placement for residency faced by a high proportion of medical professionals in Nigeria as other factors. Phillips said Nigeria is losing doctors to foreign countries, adding that Nigerian doctors are leaving the country for greener pastures and the workload is becoming too much on the doctors that stay.
Dr Michael Olarewaju, the President of Association of Residents Doctors, FCT chapter, said that brain drain is a massive problem to Nigeria’s health system. He said that if the problem is not properly tackled in the next two to three years there would not be enough doctors to treat patients in the country.
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