The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Prof. Kayode Ijadunola, and his counterpart in Achievers University, Owo, Prof. Omolola Irinoye, have tasked the Federal Government on improved remuneration for doctors, nurses and other health workers in the country.

They said that the move by the government to curb japa syndrome among medical personnel with legislation would not address the menace. According to the vice-chancellors, with Nigeria churning out a large number of health workers, including doctors and nurses, the problem was retaining those trained after their graduation and induction.

The duo spoke at Elizade University during the induction ceremony of the 23 newly graduated professional nurses, including 21 female and two male, into the Nurses and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.

Ijadunola said that no amount of health practitioners produced would be enough for the country, considering the high rate at which they are leaving the country in droves.

Ijadunola said the proposal by the National Assembly to retain health workers in the country for five years after graduation would not work because of the amount of money spent in training them, which may not be easily recouped.On his part, Irinoye said that inappropriate salaries for health workers and the work environment were some of the factors making them to seek greener pastures.

He said: “People must be paid to commensurate with the nature of the work they do. And whenever you see anybody doing shifting duties, you distort their rhythm. What people do in many places is to compensate people for the nature of the work they do. People are running out because we are not meeting essential needs. Where they are running to is not as if they are doing free jobs; they get reasonable money that can enable them to meet their family needs.

“Our facilities are problematic. Things people need to work on are not there. If the health professionals work according to their training, we won’t have anybody working in our health facilities again.”

“What we have in our laboratories is not available in the hospitals, making them improvise. We have hospitals without enough bed-sheets. There are hospitals without electricity. I have been to a teaching hospital where nurses used the light on their phones to attend to patients. The working environment is not good enough for medical personnel.

“We have to look at our human resources and facilities. We have hospitals without water, and we are talking about infection control. We have to do a lot of things that will reduce people going to hospitals at the community level to reduce infection and chronic diseases.”