Tope Omogbolagun
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health and the lawmaker representing Kwara Central Senatorial District, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe has given reasons why the proposed legislation on the five-year medical service cannot work in Nigeria.
His comment came on the heels of a bill known as the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022, by the Green Chamber on Thursday, which seeks to make it compulsory for graduates in medical and dental fields to render services within Nigeria for five years before being granted a full license.
The sponsor of the motion, Ganiyu Johnson (APC/Lagos), said the move was to check the mass exodus of medical professionals from the country and solve the problem of brain drain among doctors.
Senator Oloriegbe, however, in a series of Tweets on Saturday, noted that the challenges of the health sector were multifaceted and that the piece of legislation was not enough to solve the problems.
He said, “I am of the view that the legislative proposal sponsored by Hon. Ganiyu, is not enough as a strategy to address the challenge of brain drain in the health sector.
“This is because the factors responsible for brain drain are multifaceted and the mere denial of full practice license to medical practitioners as contained in the proposal will never resolve and may even aggravate them.
“Besides, it is not only medical doctors that are leaving the country for greener pastures abroad, there are other health workers, as well as professionals in other fields of human endeavour, trained but leaving the country on daily basis for similar purposes.”
The Kwara state senator noted that consequently, focusing attention only on the medical doctors is like “curing one of the many ailments threatening the life of a dying patient without finding solutions to the others”
He added, “In addition, with all due respect, the issues and facts related to granting of practising license are not understood by the sponsor of the bill, thus, it becomes imperative for me as a stakeholder in the health sector to offer my perspective, this time as a medical practitioner of many years, and not particularly as a senator with the privilege of heading the Senate Committee on Health.”
Senator Oloriegbe further noted that the piece of proposed legislation violates the right to the “Freedom of Movement” (Sec. 41) and “The right to freedom from discrimination” under (Sec. 42) as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999, as amended.
He noted, “These rights cannot be ordinarily denied by any person or government. Thus, we can’t be seeking legal redress through an illegal procedure.
“A person who is “qualified as a Medical Doctor” cannot be denied a license to practise having been certified qualified, except if he is found wanting in the ethics of the profession. Labour laws will come into place here.”
The senator pointed out that before the bill can be considered for legislative passage and executives’ approval, the following fundamental issues are important to scrutinize.
Oloriegbe queried, “When does the 5-year period start, before or after the housemanship?
“What sort of license will be awarded to a fully trained doctor instead of a full license to practise under the proposal?
“Is there going to be a limit in the doctor’s scope of practice, and to what extent are the limits during the five years waiting period? And we need to establish why we are putting such limits; is it for lack of skills, or political expediency?”
Continuing, he said, “What happens after the five years of denial of rights to practise?
“Consequently, how will this law advance the quality of clinical services, education, and research in any system, let alone, a crippled one like ours?”
Proffering solutions to the challenges in the health sector, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, noted that resolving the challenge of brain drain cannot be achieved through the bill.
He said rather, the country needs to address the various factors that make skilled health workers desire to migrate out of Nigeria.
“We should advocate for an improved system that will be very attractive and make medical practitioners unwilling to travel abroad to seek better living conditions. That is, we have to make our pastures to be greener so that other people’s pastures won’t be tempting to them.
“We can achieve this through the following recommendations: Medical students could be obliged to choose between paying the standard market rate for their training or opting for government-subsidized training. Quality education in its real sense can’t be free.
“Those who, however, opted for subsidized training after their qualification would in return be compelled to work in Nigeria for a certain time or refund the subsidies. This is a practice obtainable even in advanced countries such as the United Kingdom.
“To achieve the goal of a mandatory work scheme, we can enable a system that will guarantee employment opportunities for medical professionals after their qualification and provide inflation-adjusted living earnings for a few years after graduation on the condition that they stay in Nigeria to practice.”
Senator Oloriegbe noted that apart from providing attractive remunerations, their work environment and career expectations should also be prioritized.
“Incorporating both measures should give us satisfactory results. Lastly and importantly, we need to improve our health system with sustainable investments to make it conducive for the various health workers to work.”
“We can be assured of better outputs only if what we input is in good condition,” he opined.
