Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives,
says the legislature is working to ensure that Nigeria does not keep losing medical
doctors to other countries.
Gbajabiamila spoke on Thursday when some members of the
National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) led by Emeka Orji, the
president, paid him a visit at the national assembly.
The speaker said the number of doctors leaving the country
is “very scary”, adding that “definitely something must be wrong”.
“You have identified that to be the issue of emoluments and
salaries, that’s always a very important issue. If you work, you must get paid,
and you must get paid a good salary,” he said.
Gbajabiamila, however, said while it is important to provide
better welfare for doctors, the country is facing a revenue shortfall.
“This is a worldwide phenomenon, right now everything is
going down. Countries are not making as much revenue as they should. And I’m
sure a lot of doctors that leave the shores of Nigeria in search of greener
pastures, many of them will be happy, many of them will also realise it’s not
so easy on the other side either,” he said.
“What I would like to encourage you to do is to tarry a
while, be a little bit more patient, and stay. As long as you have our ears
here as your legislature, we will always, as best as possible, come to your
aid.
“So, let’s put a stop
to this brain drain as best as we can whilst we, on this side, try to make the
environment a lot easier for you.”
‘HEALTH SECTOR TO BE PRIORITISED IN 2023 BUDGET’
The speaker added that health will receive priority as
lawmakers consider the 2023 budget.
“We’ll have a look at what percentage we have in this year’s
budget for the health sector. We got the budget about a week ago, I’m still
going through it, but I will zero in on health to find out what the percentage
is, and how far away we are from the Abuja declaration,” he said.
“I cannot promise
that here. If we have fallen short, we will augment it, I cannot make that
promise because it depends on a whole host of other things, but we will try our
best to at least, come close. We will try our best to look at it objectively
within the context of the revenue that is available to the country.
“There are so many things going on right now. That’s where
the sacrifice comes in. Oil theft, dwindling revenue, the Ukraine war, and so
many other things and everybody’s competing for the lean revenue, but we know
our priority areas, education, and health, are priority areas. We’ll do
everything we can to make sure that as best as we can, we come as close to the
Abuja declaration, as we can.
“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the underbelly of our health
sector, so we must not be caught napping again, and whatever we need to do, we
must do.”
In his remarks, Orji called for improved working conditions for
resident doctors and adequate funding for residency training.
He also called for the restoration of the overseas exchange
programme, an upward review of the salary structure for resident doctors, and
stressed the need to amend the Medical Registration Act.
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