Poor remuneration, cause of medical doctors’ exodus —Dean
Barth Ndubuwah, Port Harcourt
As Nigeria’ grapples with the challenge of massive exodus of medical doctors abroad, the Dean Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medical Sciences, Rivers State University (RSU),Nkpolu Oroworokwu, Port Harcourt, Prof Kenneth Ordu said the primary cause is poor remuneration.
Prof Ordu stated this Friday in an exclusive interview with Nigerian NewsDirect in Port Harcourt. According to him, “nobody will be ready to remain in a country where your remuneration is not commensurate with your work, when your profession is highly demanded in other countries with better condition of service.
“And moreso these doctors have capacity and have spent enough time and resources to acquire their training that put them where they are today,” he said.
The Dean is of the opinion that the only solution to massive exodus of medical doctors abroad is enhanced salaries.
“The bottom line is that medical doctors should be properly remunerated, if they must be retained in Nigeria. So government should display enough political will to address the situation,” Prof Ordu said.
Prof Ordu also identified insecurity as another factor pushing medical doctors out of the country. According to him, the lives of doctors are on daily basis threatened, with several doctors being kidnapped and forced to pay ransom to the faceless criminals to secure their release.
“So under such condition, who would want to remain where his life is not safe? I am not saying that special security arrangement should be made for medical doctors, no security is general and should cover everybody. There has been lack of political will on the part of government to combat insecurity in Nigeria. Security should be provided for the entire citizenry, therefore it is important that this problem be addressed,” Prof Ordu said.
The Dean who refused to admit that the situation is hopeless, urged relevant authorities saddled with the responsibility of providing security in the country to do the needful and right the wrong.
Commenting on the World Health Organisation (WHO’s) standard of one medical doctor to about four hundred patients. The Dean said what is obtainable in Nigeria in that aspect is a farcry. He said the ratio in the country is far above one doctor to over two thousand patients.
According to Prof Ordu more doctors are leaving the shores of the nation on daily basis to worsen the already bad situation.
Ask to suggest on a possible suitable appointee to head the Health Ministry in Rivers State, Prof Ordu said such person should have capacity and must not be selfish.
These attributes, he said are crucial for a Health Commissioner to be able to manage the State Ministry of Health.
