The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, has said the new National Policy on Health Workforce Migration will help bring back Nigerian healthcare professionals, including doctors who are currently working in various countries abroad.
His stance follows the Federal Government’s approval of the health policy to address the continued exodus of Nigerian doctors from the country.Pate in a post on his official handle on X on Monday reaffirmed the government’s commitment to tackling the challenges surrounding healthcare human resources in the country.
He said President Bola Tinubu had approved the policy while presiding over the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“This policy is more than just a response to the ongoing exodus of healthcare professionals; it’s a comprehensive strategy to manage, harness, and reverse health worker migration,” the minister said.
As a follow-up to Monday’s announcement, the minister on Tuesday said the policy signed by the president was a comprehensive strategy to manage, harness, and reverse health workers’ migration.
“The National Policy on Health Workforce Migration addresses the critical challenges facing Nigeria’s health human resources.
As the AU Champion for Human Resources for Health and Community Health Delivery Partnership, Mr President’s commitment to a resilient and robust healthcare system is powerfully reflected in this forward-looking policy.
“This policy is more than just a response to the ongoing exodus of healthcare professionals; it’s a comprehensive strategy to manage, harness, and reverse health worker migration.
It envisions a thriving workforce that is well-supported, adequately rewarded, and optimally utilised to meet the healthcare needs of all Nigerians.
”Many Nigerian healthcare workers have left the country for greener pastures as a result of inadequate equipment, worsening insecurity, poor working conditions, and poor salary structure.
67% Of Nigerian Doctors Practise In UK
Pate also said doctors and nurses trained in Nigeria are sought-after globally, and that 67 per cent of them work in the United Kingdom (UK).
The minister, on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday, said if health workers of Nigerian origin pull out of the National Health Service (NHS), the service will struggle.He said Nigerian doctors and nurses are attractive and the country should be proud of that.
He noted that not all Nigerian health workers leave the country and that those who leave have their reasons for exiting.
He added the policy “is really about health diplomacy and promoting ethical recruitment practices”.“The recruitment countries; that recruit our professionals, should they not have some responsibilities to help us expand the training?
Because the strain of health workers’ migration is continuous; it’s not going to stop tomorrow.“The UK will need Nigerian doctors. 67% of our doctors go to the United Kingdom and 25% of the NHIS workforce is Nigerian.
“Does the UK, for instance, want to consider expanding the pre-service education? Can we have corridors that allow us to have a compact that ‘you’ll take so but you will also help us train more so you will replace them’? That is in the realm of health diplomacy and ethical replacement,” Pate said.
“Nigerians are very vibrant, very entrepreneurial, and very capable wherever they are. If Nigerians hold back from the UK, for instance, the NHS will struggle to provide the services that many Nigerians are going there to get,” he added.
Pate said over 75% of health workers trained in the last year have left Nigeria for other countries as economic migrants. “We have good training centres here, and the universities are doing a great job,” he admitted.
Source: Channels TV
