Afrigather Healthcare professionals are leaving Nigeria in droves regardless of the Federal Authorities’s efforts to retain them, BusinessDay has discovered.
Sixteen thousand docs have exited Nigeria within the final 5 years, the Ministry of Well being and Social Welfare mentioned.
About 75,000 nurses and midwives left Nigeria inside the similar interval for the US, Europe and Asia, in line with the Nationwide Affiliation of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM).
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Over the previous six months, a number of healthcare staff have made efforts to exit Nigeria however have been unable to course of their journey paperwork because of unofficial restrictions imposed on license verification by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), limiting them to Nigeria alone.
One in every of such restrictions is that candidates who need to relocate will need to have energetic practising licenses for at the very least six months earlier than expiration.
Micheal Nnachi, president of the Nationwide Affiliation of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), informed BusinessDay that insurance policies that limit the migration of its members are unacceptable, noting that efforts are afoot to sort out them
“We can’t permit any coverage that may limit the motion of nurses, particularly looking for greener pastures. We are able to’t try this,” Nnachi mentioned.
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Olufunmilayo Ogunsanya, a household doctor, mentioned except nurses and different well being staff are higher handled by the federal government, any effort to retain them at house will probably be fruitless.
“Nigerian nurses are overworked, underpaid, overused, under-appreciated and unfulfilled with their work in Nigeria. This is the reason they need to go away Nigeria,” Ogunsanya mentioned.
“The reply to underpaid, overworked, and unfulfilled well being staff is to not maintain them hostage in a system and a rustic they now not need to be in. We have to handle the problems, pay them higher, make work extra fulfilling, and construct a rustic that professionals are pleased to reside in,” he added.
In the meantime, the Federal Authorities has been rolling out totally different initiatives to draw healthcare staff to the system, together with a brand new coverage providing numerous incentives to these within the nation and the diaspora.
In accordance with a brand new coverage doc, particular credit score amenities, mortgage financing schemes and tax holidays will probably be created to supply a conducive working atmosphere for well being staff. There will probably be a periodic overview of healthcare staff’ salaries, advantages, pensions, and allowances.
Whereas the coverage recognises healthcare staff’ proper to worldwide mobility for employment, it additionally stipulates that this mobility ought to adhere to rules of social justice, human rights, fairness, transparency, and equity.
Nevertheless, the factors for figuring out what constitutes ‘honest,’ ‘simply,’ and ‘equitable’ stay unclear, as there’s a danger of probably hindering profession development alternatives for some healthcare professionals.
Faruk Abubakar, secretary normal and registrar of the NMCN, didn’t reply to BusinessDay’s inquiries on the present scenario of nurses and midwives license verification on the 2 events he was reached through calls and texts.
In March 2024, the council started to implement revised tips for the verification of certificates for observe overseas, demanding that nurses and midwives will need to have at the very least two years of labor expertise after receiving their everlasting practising license earlier than working overseas.
It additionally stipulates that candidates who need to relocate will need to have energetic practising licenses for at the very least six months earlier than expiration.
They have to additionally present letters of fine standing from direct supervisors at their office or coaching establishments, extending the verification course of to at the very least six months.
Nurses and midwives have begun to struggle for the abolishment of the coverage or a overview that thought of their pursuits.
Abubakar insisted that the Federal Authorities is not going to again down on the contentious verification coverage in a televised interview performed earlier, noting that it wants to position the collective welfare of Nigerians forward of particular person pursuits.
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He mentioned greater than 42,000 nurses left Nigeria over the past three years as coaching establishments wrestle to provide a median of 6,700 nurses yearly.
In 2023, about 15, 000 nurses left Nigeria, implying that regardless of yearly spending on producing expert manpower in about 285 colleges of nursing and midwifery, Nigeria misplaced virtually all to the worldwide nursing labour market.
“If we permit each Nigerian to go away as they graduate, who’s going to deal with our healthcare providers? We’re not in opposition to anybody touring, however Nigerians should be served and offered for with high quality healthcare since we produce among the finest work the world over,” Abubakar mentioned throughout an interview on Channels TV.
He additional disclosed that nurses in Nigeria earn between N135,000 and N200,000.
Nevertheless, relying on the extent, expertise, and {qualifications}, the annual salaries of nurses and midwives vary between £20,330 and £93,735 yearly in England, in line with information gleaned from the UK web site on pay scale in healthcare.
The registrar mentioned the Federal Authorities goals to provide 47,000 nurses in 2024.
