Not less than 51 healthcare workers have left the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja, since the beginning of 2023
Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja, Prof Sa’ad Ahmed, said this when the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions visited the hospital for an oversight function to assess the level of healthcare delivery in the facility on Tuesday.
Speaking during the visit, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions, Amos Magaji, vowed to reduce the outflow of Nigerians seeking medical care abroad and doctors travelling outside the country to seek greener pastures.
He noted that the committee will also focus on improving the budgetary allocation for the health sector.
Magaji said the committee is working towards ensuring that the hospital gets another land allocation to expand its health services.
Magaji noted, “On the issue of budget for health, everyone knows that the entire budget for this country is not there, and the budget for health is something to look into. We are doing everything to ensure that if the nation prospers, the budget for the nation will improve. We have dilapidated infrastructure everywhere; if you go to the education and power sectors, they are also complaining.
“That is why we are on this oversight function so that we look at what we have before the budget is presented, and we can see areas of need where you truly need intervention. This hospital is dear to us, we need to pay more attention to health because health is wealth.
“Until you are sick, you will not know the value of health, and no matter how much you have, there are certain emergencies that, if you do not have hospitals to respond to you, you would have died before reaching the Mediterranean Sea, and we need to have our system working.
One of the key areas this committee is really looking into is the reversal of medical tourism. We are not saying it should be stopped, but it should be reversed. We want to see that people are coming from Niger Republic, Ghana, and Egypt to access healthcare here.
Meanwhile, Ahmed lamented that every department in the hospital is affected by brain drain.
“Currently, we are facing a manpower shortage in the Ear, Nose and Throat department. We equally have challenges in the department of neurology as we only have one consultant there, we run clinics once a week there.
“This year alone, about 51 staff have left the facility. It is biting, and it will continue to bite. We can talk about one-for-one replacement, but sometimes you cannot get that level of experience of the person that is leaving,” he said.
