The Federal Government assured of its commitment to reversing the japa syndrome threatening the sector through policy reforms. Minister of State for Health, Dr Adekunle Salako, who gave the assurance in Benin during a working visit to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), said following the laudable policies put in place by the Ahmed Tinubu administration, no health worker in public hospitals is expected to leave the country.

He said that within the economic reality in Nigeria, health workers are still the best paid in the country and urged health professionals to show more commitment and passion to their jobs.

He said increasing salaries for health workers will not sufficiently address the challenge in the health sector. “If you increase doctors’ salaries, be sure that teachers would come forward to demand salary increment.

“We all know that health is the essence of living. It is a priority that we must canvass holistic funding for the sector. Japa is a major challenge across the nation within the health sector. It is an economic challenge, and solving an economic problem is practically beyond the health sector.

“I believe that with the kind of policies, we have developed in terms of training capacity among others, eventually, the direction of japa will be reversed,” Salako said.

The minister was led on a tour of the hospital facilities including the UBTH School of Biomedical Engineering by the Chief Medical Director of UBTH, Prof Darlington Obaseki, and top management staff.

Obaseki said the hospital is one of the most affordable in the country and called on the government to address the critical shortage of skilled health professionals in the sector.

“We have over 500 patients and have only 750 nurses. The question now is how these 750 nurses running three shifts can cover the clinics and theatre. We also have about 250 consultants with less than 300 resident doctors. This is one major challenge we face.

“Our services are the most affordable in this environment. That is why patients prefer to come down here,” Obaseki added.