Hon. Mrs Abimbola Sholanke, Chairman House Committee on Health, Ekiti State House of Assembly has advocated that the best way to stop medical tourism and ‘JAPA’ Syndrome among medical experts was to enforce eminent personalities in Nigeria to make use of state facilities.
She said accessing state medical facilities would afford them first hand information about the necessary needs of hospitals with the aim of fixing them and employing more experts to attend to health challenges of Nigerians.
Hon. Sholanke, a medical expert and a Guest Speaker made the call at the Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Association of Resident Doctors, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital( EKSUTH) on Wednesday at the Main Auditorium of College of Nursing Sciences, Ado-Ekiti.
Speaking on the THEME: EXODUS OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS : IT’S IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN NIGERIA AND EKITI STATE IN PERSPECTIVE AND sub THEME: DOCTORS’ WELFARE IN THE FACE OF ECONOMIC DOWNTURN.
The medical expert further stressed that government would be ready to fund and equip Nigeria hospitals if they are enforced to access treatment in the country. Adding that more qualified Doctors and Nurses should be employed with increased salaries, allowances and health insurance saying that would make them diligent and shun ‘Japa’
She added that retired healthcare personnel should be re-engage on the same salary structure they retired on.
Hon. Sholanke who however attributed brain drain of healthcare sector in Nigeria which had resulted to ‘japa’ to include:
Lack of employment, hostile working environment, insecurity, poor remuneration, obsolete equipments, owing workers salaries and deductions among others. She suggested solutions to the highlighted challenges.
Speaking on the Sub topic, the second speaker, Dr. Babatunde Olofinbiyi, Senior Consultant Obstetrics and Gynaecology urged the doctors and Nurses to calve a nitch for themselves in their environments, saying , working in Nigeria does not make them inferior to their counterparts abroad. He added that their hands are instrumental to what they would become in life while admonishing them to shun extravagant life.
Dr. Olofinbiyi highlighted personal, mentorship, institutional, leadership, community and governmental roles
for healthcare personnel to sail through the economic downturn .
Earlier, the Chief Medical Director of Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Professor Kayode Olabanji, has said that there was urgent need to encourage younger health professionals to stay back in Nigeria to build the health system. Adding that the ‘Japa’ syndrome cut across all professions which needed government timely interventions.
Similarly, the Professor of Community Medicine, based in Ekiti State University and Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Professor Olusola Olugbenga Odu, advised the younger Doctors to keep their heads up irrespective of the economic and social challenges in the country saying they can succeed in Nigeria professionally and economically without relocating abroad.
President of the Resident Doctors of the Teaching Hospital,
Dr. Adeyemi Famous, while speaking on the importance of the AGM said the day is considered very significant in the calendar of the Resident Doctors and members of the Association to mark remarkable activities of the Year.
Dr. Adeyemi, who described EKSUTH as the best Teaching Hospital in Ekiti state, affirmed that EKSUTH offer care to 80 per cent of the population in the State due to the fact that the location of the hospital is very accessible to the patients.
“We are resolved to offer maximum care to all our patients in Ekiti State and it’s environ.
While appreciating the Governor of Ekiti State, His Excellency, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji for his total support for the Teaching Hospital, the Doctors and Health Workers in the State as a whole. He noted that with the timely interventions of the governor, Doctors and Health Workers stopped leaving the State in droves due to challenges bedeviling the hospital.
According to him, “In a month, we could have about 30 people leaving. Then we went to the Governor because of the disparity in pay between the State and Federal Health Institutions, we asked him to pay the new hazard allowance and also the medical residency in training fund which he did.
“Since then, there has been drastic reduction in the rate at which Doctors and other Health Workers were leaving the Institution and the State.
High point of the AGM was Award presentation to some deserving individuals among whom was the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaja Dr. Habibat Adubiaro, who was awarded friend of the Association following her immense contribution to the development of the Teaching Hospital, the Resident Doctors and most importantly, her roles in the payment of new hazard allowance which the health workers are currently enjoying in the State as attested to by the President of the Resident Doctors.
Others include, the consultants/teachers in EKSUTH based on their support for the Resident Doctors at all times, and the HoD of salaries and wages in accounting section of the hospital, Mr. Ojo, for his unwavering support for the Resident Doctors in terms of renumeration.
Dignitaries at the event include; government functionaries and friends of the hospital.
The President of the Resident Doctors in Ekiti state however called on Governor Oyebanji to look into implementation of their minimum wage which was approved three years ago and to further equip the teaching hospital with modern facilities