FG to tackle brain drain in health sector – Mamora

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, has reiterated Federal Government’s resolve to find a lasting solution to the brain drain syndrome that has plagued the health sector for many years.

Speaking at the investiture of Professor Akinsanya Olayide Osibogun as the 22nd President of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Mamora said the ministry is confident that the Health Sector Reform Committee headed by Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo would come up with a holistic report that would address the challenges in the health sector.

He said: “The loss of many highly skilled professionals from our country to the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Australia, United Arab Emirate (UAE), South Africa and Saudi Arabia, among other countries, continues to receive the attention of government at federal and state levels. This situation has become a major challenge in the healthcare sector today. We must find a lasting solution to this challenge with a view to reversing the brain drain, developing sustainable skill transfer that will result in brain gain.”

According to him, the ministry would collaborate with the college on key areas such as special funding for the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria to accelerate training of specialists to deal with the current wave of brain drain and rapid deployment of simulation equipment and support for the proposed regional training centres to further strengthen residency training.

Mamora said the investiture of Osibogun as president marks a significant milestone in the life and development of the college, urging the newly elected president to continue to maintain the standard of the college in terms of training and research. 

“It is also desirable that solutions are found to the emerging diseases as well as advancing new frontier in the management of communicable and non-communicable diseases in sub- Saharan Africa.

He appealed to the new leadership to create greater collaboration and linkages with sister colleges within Africa and beyond to widen the recognition base of the fellows of the college in the global medical community.

He encouraged Osibogun to pursue the completion and use the simulation laboratories as a veritable tool in the training of resident doctors in Nigeria without further delay.

Osibogun, in his inaugural speech, said the college would continue to seize opportunities to improve the quality of their products, as well as enhance the quality of its products and leverage on technology. He further said the college is investing in simulation training facilities and evaluation methodologies.

Osibogun, who noted that it cost $1.1m to train a doctor in the United States of America (USA), said to halt and reverse the obvious crisis cause by brain drain, the country must urgently expand production of more doctors and improve work conditions to retain them.