By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, has warned that persistent mass exodus of medical Specialists from the country is damaging the healthcare delivery system of the nation.
MDCN issued the warning in a communique issued at the end of National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of Medical and Dental Consultants Association held in Port Harcourt between 15th- 19th May, 2022 signed by Dr. Yemi Raji, Secretary General of MDCN.
The communique read,”Mass exodus of medical and dental specialists from the country in search of job satisfaction and improved quality of life, with its attendant disruption of healthcare delivery and medical education.”
The Council further complained that lack of renumeration in the sector is pushing health workers out of the country in search of greener pastures outside the shores of the country and urged the Federal and State Governments to increase renumeration of medical Specialists to help checkmate the prevalence of medical Brain Drain.
“Persistent poor remuneration of our lack , particularly the shortfall in remuneration of clinical lecturers provision for health by all tiers of Government, in addition to inequitable distribution of healthcare resources among the different levels of healthcare, with the secondary healthcare level often at the receiving end.”
We Urge the Government to speedily address the issue of the shortfall in remunerations
of our members without further delay, especially that of the Clinical Lecturers, the communique read.
Furthermore the Council enjoined Government at all levels to increase funding for healthcare delivery,especially the secondary healthcare level.
Also also listed Non implementation of increased retirement age for health workers as earlier announced by the Government as another factor responsible for the Exodus.
The Council called on the Government to put all processes in motion to stop the mass exodus of the Nigerian Doctors to other countries while advising it’s members to explore areas of international collaborations and entrepreneurship as a way of self-
improvement.
The theme of the MDCN NEC Meeting is ” Building Responsive Healthcare Systems in Nigeria’s Tertiary Hospitals”.
