By Asmau Ahmad
The Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), has urged the government to provide a conducive work environment, improved remuneration, and better welfare for physicians in the country.
The Chairman of the MDCAN at the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta Chapter, Lagos, Dr Emeka Ibezi, made the call on Friday during the first meeting of the association with the theme.
Dr Ibezi said that addressing the issues was necessary to check the brain drain of medical practitioners in the country.
According to him, a lot of doctors, health workers, and consultants leave the country daily, which is not a good development.
“The truth is that it is a global phenomenon, but we have this issue on the increase in this clime right now.
“Between December 2021 and May 2022, we have about 727 doctors that are registered from Nigeria, in the United Kingdom. That is, just in the UK alone, about 727 doctors from Nigeria are officially registered in their system.
“Now that is not telling you the number of doctors that left Nigeria within that period to the UK alone. But just telling you the numbers that are registered, of course, we should have more people,” he said.
Ibezi, therefore, urged the concerned authorities to ensure that the relevant resources such as stable power supply and modern equipment required for delivery of quality healthcare were in place.
He also called on the government to look into the remuneration of professionals, including the hazard allowance, adding that these were factors causing many medical experts to migrate from the country.
The chairman said that the meeting was convened for consultants at FMC, Ebute Metta, to discuss ways to cope with the current environment in the country, to enable them to keep delivering services in tandem with global practices.
In a remark, the Medical Director, FMC, Ebute Metta, Dr. Adedamola Dada, said that the practice of medicine was evolving from the previous mantra where the doctor, especially the consultant was all-knowing and could not be challenged.
Dada urged medical practitioners to be abreast of current healthcare issues, to meet the need of today’s patients.
He said that it was also important that medical professionals show empathy, understanding, knowledge, confidence, and sensitivity to the peculiar need of the patients at all times.
A consultant psychiatrist and therapist, Dr Kafayah Ogunsola, who delivered a lecture on how to manage one’s mental health in uncertainties urged medical experts to prioritise their mental well-being.
Ogunsola said that life itself was filled with lots of stressors such as ill-health, life events that one did not see coming, loss of a loved one, loss of job, financial troubles, economic problems and other challenges in Nigeria.
