Physicians in their diaspora petition against Nigeria's anti-brain drain legislation

[get these nets]

*member of group who signed letter/petition speaks about the matter on South African tv show

Bill in Nigeria passed seeking to curb brain drain in the healthcare sector

Newzroom Afrika​

Apr 10, 2023
A bill seeking to curb the brain drain in the Nigerian healthcare sector has passed the second reading in the House of Representatives. Dr Emeka Ugwu and Dr Vusumuzi Sibanda give a better understanding on the impact of this bill

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Doctors in diaspora petition National Assembly over anti-migration bill​

Apr 13, 2023

Medical and Dental practitioners under the aegis of the Diaspora Medical Associations have petitioned the National Assembly over the bill seeking to compel medical and dental graduates to render five-year compulsory services within Nigeria before being granted full licence to practise.

In its letter entitled “Re: A position statement from diaspora medical associations – Bill seeking to restrict newly-qualified medical doctors and dentists from leaving Nigeria,” dated April 11, 2023 and addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, the medical body disclosed its contrariant posture to the recent NASS’ bill purported to be the antidote of medical brain-drain in Nigeria

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In the statement, the DMA said,

“We recognise the problems posed by the exodus of Nigerian medical professionals from our health system, including, but not limited to decreased access to health care services, lack of quality of care, care delivery deserts the inability to adequately enact health care and public health policy due to lack of manpower and leadership resource

“Indeed, good governance and commitment to future investment in health care would improve conditions in the country that will allow security, good education for children, improved compensation, as described in the Abuja Declaration.”
Young professionals leave the country in search of better opportunities. Many are frustrated by the consequences of governance failures that have progressively worsened over the past 30 years.
“The unfortunate reality is the health care system is in a state of serious neglect, training and career development opportunities are limited further impairing earning potential. Insecurity is rampant. Equity and and justice are lacking for the average Nigerian.
“The Diaspora Medical Associations are invested in crafting effective solutions and are willing to participate in fostering solutions to that extent.”

However, the doctors called on the Speaker to embrace the purposeful systemic solution and ensure that a ‘quick fix’ attempt does not worsen the situation. They also pledged to support positive changes, and growth of the health sector to stop and reverse the brain drain in Nigeria



The correspondence was jointly signed by President, Nigerian Doctors’ Forum, South Africa (NDF-SA), Dr. Emeka Ugwu; President, Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), Dr. Chinyere Anyaogu; President, Medical Association of Nigerians Across Great Britain (MANSAG), Dr. Chris Agbo; President, Canadian Association of Nigerian Physicians and Dentists (CANPAD), Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka and President, Nigerian Medical Association-Germany (NMA-Germany), Dr. AlAmin Dahiru

 

[get these nets]

@phcitywarrior @Gunz&Butta @ignorethis @Starman @Frangala @Swahili P'Bitek @MischievousMonkey @mbewane @JadeB @Ezigbo Nwanyi @sportscribe

 

[ignorethis]

Forcing doctors to stay in a place with no hospitals is useless.

Nigeria is so backwards. Everything is by force smh.

 

[#1 pick]

Forcing doctors to stay in a place with no hospitals is useless.

Nigeria is so backwards. Everything is by force smh.

Nigeria is the worst. They don't even paid most of their employees and eat the money

 

[get these nets]

Are these publicly funded educations? What are termed scholarships in America?

 

[MischievousMonkey]

If only one of the reason for them leaving is the lack of infrastructure allowing good practice, I'm not sure forcing them to stay for some period of time is the right end to start with

But it'll likely increase access to care for locals, even marginally, which is a good thing all in all

 

[mbewane]

Trash policy. As usual politicians taking short-term spectacular actions against the effect without taking structural long-term actions against the cause.

Also not that they care or whatever but I'm pretty sure that preventing your citizens from leaving the country is a violation of human rights.

 

[phcitywarrior]

OP, thanks for highlighting this. Was reading about it a few days ago when the UK moved Nigeria to the Red list of countries where the government can recruit healthcare workers.

UK revises foreign health workers’ recruitment, returns Nigeria to red list countries

Some days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) tweaked the Health Workforce Support and Safeguard list, the United Kingdom has also revised its policy on recruitment of health workers from overseas.

guardian.ng

It's absolutely terrible policy. Essentially you have to practice in Nigeria for 5 yrs before getting your license. But it doesn't address why doctors are leaving (poor infrastructure, poor wages, insecurity etc). Address those issues and people will stay.

It's a laughable policy considering President Buhari and President-elect Tinubu go overseas all the time for medical trips. The president can't even be treated by a domestic hospital in the country. It's shameful.

I've always said this and I stand by it, most Nigerians do not actually care to leave Nigeria. If the infrastructure of the country was on par with Abuja, and there was some decent rule of law and economy, most would stay/return.

But this policy of force is absolute madness.

 

[get these nets]

@ab.aspectus

 

[invalid]

@get these nets Thanks for tagging me. Didn't know you made a thread on this. I did the same with Randall Robinson and even posted in your thread and didn't realize it.

But it doesn't address why doctors are leaving (poor infrastructure, poor wages, insecurity etc). Address those issues and people will stay.

The way that I'm looking at this situation, from the state's perspective, the purpose of the state's education system is to improve the quality of life of its citizens.

We are aware of all the systemic issues that plague every level of Nigerian society. Issues that are going to take generations to fix.

In the meantime, how do you make incremental change?

Citizens who receive public education owe a debt to their society.

It doesn't make sense, at least from the state's perspective, to allow citizens who take advantage of public educational resources, to leave the country, regardless of the state that the country is in, so that the country is not able to reap the benefits that it's public educational system is supposed to yield for the populace. Only for another country to reap the benefits.

Everyone wants Nigeria to be better. A win for Nigeria is a win for black people globally.

The way I see it, Nigeria can try to improve on the underlying issues, which will take generations, while continuing it's brain drain while it takes those steps.

Or curve the brain drain, and make incremental steps to address the issues.

It seems to me, the people of Nigeria will see more of an immediate benefit from the second option than the first. To be sure, the first option is ideal, but it doesn't appear to be manageable at the moment.

 

[BigMan]

OP, thanks for highlighting this. Was reading about it a few days ago when the UK moved Nigeria to the Red list of countries where the government can recruit healthcare workers.

UK revises foreign health workers’ recruitment, returns Nigeria to red list countries

Some days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) tweaked the Health Workforce Support and Safeguard list, the United Kingdom has also revised its policy on recruitment of health workers from overseas.

guardian.ng

It's absolutely terrible policy. Essentially you have to practice in Nigeria for 5 yrs before getting your license. But it doesn't address why doctors are leaving (poor infrastructure, poor wages, insecurity etc). Address those issues and people will stay.

It's a laughable policy considering President Buhari and President-elect Tinubu go overseas all the time for medical trips. The president can't even be treated by a domestic hospital in the country. It's shameful.

I've always said this and I stand by it, most Nigerians do not actually care to leave Nigeria. If the infrastructure of the country was on par with Abuja, and there was some decent rule of law and economy, most would stay/return.

But this policy of force is absolute madness.

Does Lagos have comparable infrastructure /QOL as Abuja?

 

[ignorethis]

@get these nets Thanks for tagging me. Didn't know you made a thread on this. I did the same with Randall Robinson and even posted in your thread and didn't realize it.



The way that I'm looking at this situation, from the state's perspective, the purpose of the state's education system is to improve the quality of life of its citizens.

We are aware of all the systemic issues that plague every level of Nigerian society. Issues that are going to take generations to fix.

In the meantime, how do you make incremental change?

Citizens who receive public education owe a debt to their society.

It doesn't make sense, at least from the state's perspective, to allow citizens who take advantage of public educational resources, to leave the country, regardless of the state that the country is in, so that the country is not able to reap the benefits that it's public educational system is supposed to yield for the populace. Only for another country to reap the benefits.

Everyone wants Nigeria to be better. A win for Nigeria is a win for black people globally.

The way I see it, Nigeria can try to improve on the underlying issues, which will take generations, while continuing it's brain drain while it takes those steps.

Or curve the brain drain, and make incremental steps to address the issues.

It seems to me, the people of Nigeria will see more of an immediate benefit from the second option than the first. To be sure, the first option is ideal, but it doesn't appear to be manageable at the moment.

If someone is a doctor in Nigeria chances are their family has been paying for their education since they were a young child. Not even including college tuition.

The state doesn’t provide a lot of educational resources, the Nigerian public education system is a joke.

 

[Kooley_High]

If people are leaving the country due to lack of infrastructure, pay, safety etc, shouldnt the governing policy be to fix these issues first? Forcing educated professionals to stay is just going to increase the political demand for fixing those issues even more, leading to possibly more instability.

Not only that, can a doctor practicing in an area lacking needed medical infrastructure for 5 years actual gain needed medical experience? It seems like they would only be able to recommend other doctors who are more equipped for standard practice due to lack of resources.

 

[O³ (O cubed)]

Fortunately my cousins are in the UK practicing & finishing up their specialist fields.

They were planning to return to Nigeria.They may end up in the US with this news.

 

[High Art]

Then the government goes to odd lengths to make it harder for people to become doctors in the first place there. Look at the low pass rate for their licensing exams. All to drive people into remedial shadowing services where the med student has to pay to work, instead of being paid. I hear horror stories about it all the time from friend over there. The government will then claim those people don't know anything and then if those people somehow leave for another country, they make it elsewhere fine. It's a whole shytshow.