Nigerian Academy of Medicine (NAMed) has lamented continued brain drain in the health sector, saying the trend is depleting workforce and leaving a void difficult to fill.

The academy also called on Federal Government to increase budget allocation to the health sector, in line with the 2001 Abuja Declaration, which recommends that 15 per cent of national budgets go to health.

President, Prof. Samuel Ohaegbulam, who disclosed this at NAMed’s 2023 Lecture and Induction Ceremony in Abuja, yesterday, noted that $1 billion is lost yearly to medical tourism and overseas treatment, stressing that urgent steps must be taken to reverse this.

Describing inadequate funding as a hurdle in the health sector, he said it is futile trying to improve primary healthcare, mother and child care, or mental health and others, if funding is poor.

Ohaegbulam observed that current federal budget for health is equivalent to that of a single hospital in developed countries, and that crash in value of the naira has further worsened matters.

He noted that consequences of neglecting the sector are obvious and have resulted in growing medical tourism, brain drain, unemployment, and decline in quality of healthcare.

He said the academy, by virtue of its unique position, must do everything possible to drive initiative for rescuing the sector.

Presenting a communiqué at the end of the ceremony, the Secretary, Prof. Oluwoke Atoyebi, announced that NAMed, in collaboration with Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), has opened the Media Challenge Award, and is inviting health reporters covering primary healthcare to submit published entries of articles or documentaries produced since 2022.