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Gbajabiamila demands holistic solutions to brain drain in health sector

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The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Thursday expressed at the brain drain in the nation’s health sector.

The speaker, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, spoke when members of the National Association of Resident Doctors led by its President, Dr. Emeka Orji, visited him in Abuja.

He lamented the mass exodus of doctors from Nigeria to Europe and the United States in the last eight months.

He, however, said the time had come for the government to holistically address the issues responsible for the brain drain in the health sector.

Gbajabiamila said: “That is a very scary figure and that is not very encouraging for a country of over 200 million people to have the core of your medical team, your young ones, resident doctors, leaving in droves like that, definitely something must be wrong.

“You have identified that to be the issue of emoluments and salaries, that’s always a very important issue. If you work, you must get paid, and you must get paid a good salary.

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“It’s also important that we put those things in context in terms of everybody’s need to get paid, and that’s very important. That’s one of the reasons, if not the most important reason why you work, because we all have families to take care of. But we must put it in the Nigerian context in terms of the revenues available to the country.

“This is a worldwide phenomenon, right now everything is going down. Countries are not making as much revenue as they should.

“And I’m sure a lot of doctors that leave the shores of Nigeria in search of greener pastures, many of them will be happy, many of them will also realize it’s not so easy on the other side either.”

The speaker, who commended the health workers who decided to stay back in the country despite the unpleasant situation, added: “What I would like to encourage you to do is to tarry a while, be a little bit more patient, and stay.

“As long as you have our ears here as your legislature, we will always, as best as possible, come to your aid.”

“So, let’s put a stop to this brain drain as best as we can whilst we, on this side, try to make the environment a lot easier for you.”

He assured the association that National Assembly would look into its members’ demand for an increase in the budgetary allocation for the health sector.

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