Chief Executive Officer of Wellington Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Abuja, Dr Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi, has urged government at all levels to create an enabling environment to retain trained health professionals and mitigate the escalating brain drain in Nigeria.

Ugwuanyi made the call during an interview on the sidelines of the Healthcare Entrepreneurship Expo organised by the AfriHealth Development Foundation in Abuja. The event was themed, “Healthcare Entrepreneurship: Building a Bankable Health Workforce Through Entrepreneurship and Mentorship.”

He lamented the continuous exodus of medical personnel, noting that substantial resources invested in their training are wasted when they emigrate to seek greener pastures.

He said that “There’s no point expending a huge chunk of government funds to train doctors and allied healthcare professionals and you don’t create an enabling environment for them to be retained and stay back and serve an expanding population.”

Ugwuanyi, who worked in England for over 10 years before returning to Nigeria, described himself as a product of “reverse japa.”

He stressed that better conditions of service would organically encourage Nigerian health professionals abroad to return and contribute to the system.

“Those who have gone out there will come back. And that’s where we’ll start talking about reverse japa syndrome,” he said.

Highlighting the need for private-sector investment, the neurosurgeon noted that healthcare entrepreneurs take immense risks to bridge gaps in service delivery amid challenging economic conditions and unverified social media attacks.

He emphasised the necessity of mentorship to guarantee the survival of medical institutions. “Mentorship is key because there has to be a constant supply of replacement parts, people that will sustain those services when the older generations fade out,” he noted.

Ugwuanyi also advised young practitioners to approach healthcare entrepreneurship as a long-term commitment requiring resilience, patience, and continuous professional development, rather than a scheme for quick wealth.

He noted that “Clinical medicine is very dynamic. Things are changing every day. So you cannot be treating people today with knowledge you acquired 10 years ago,” urging young professionals to constantly invest in skills acquisition.

He equally challenged healthcare entrepreneurs to strike a delicate balance between quality service delivery and reasonable remuneration for service providers to seamlessly sustain their businesses.