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Tag: NARD

  • NARD Strike: Suffering patients appeal for quick resolution to impasse

    NARD Strike: Suffering patients appeal for quick resolution to impasse

    As the National Association of Resident Doctors strike continues, patients have appealed for a quick resolution to the impasse between the doctors and the Federal Government.

    The patients spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Lagos.

    They complained that incessant strikes were worrisome and impeded access to healthcare services and healthy lives.

    A NAN check at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, showed that the strike affected clinical services as resident doctors were not involved in delivering healthcare services.

    Consultants, nurses and other health professionals, including pharmacists, laboratory scientists, as well as some house officers were seen attending to patients managing at the hospital.

    Mr. Adeyemi Aluko, a patient, said that all stakeholders involved in healthcare delivery should shelve their differences and chart a way forward to address the systemic challenges facing the sector.

    “Nigeria’s health care system is in crisis. I was referred to LASUTH from a private hospital for further treatment, but there’s no doctor on ground.

    “They rescheduled my appointment to the next two weeks. Hopefully, issues that necessitated the strike would have been amicably solved so that we can have unhindered access to healthcare services,’’ he said.

    Similarly, Mrs. Deborah Njoku, said the strike had disrupted her son’s treatment and that she had decided to seek treatment at a private hospital.

    According to her, no doctor attended to him at the ward since the strike began and said that he had only been examined by a few senior nurses.

    “I am not comfortable with the situation because the health workers are overwhelmed. It’s just a few of them attending to lots of patients.

    “Aside from that, if the issues that warranted the strikes are not resolved, the doctors might call for another strike. I don’t want to risk my child’s health with this drama,” she complained.

    NAN reports that NARD had called on its members nationwide to proceed on a five-day warning strike beginning from May 17 to May 21.

    Some of the demands by NARD are a 200 per cent review of their Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF).

    It also wants the issuance of a circular by the House of Representatives jettisoning the bill seeking to stop doctors from leaving the country without a mandatory five-year service period.

    Meanwhile, Dr. Salmon Abeeb, President of LASUTH-ARD, said the chapter had ensured 100 per cent compliance with the strike directive of its national body.

    He noted that LASUTH-ARD had put across some local demands to the Lagos state government, asides from the demands of the national body.

    He appealed to the state government to implement payment of increments and arrears of hazard allowance after over two years of agreement.

    Dr. Abeeb also called for the payment of the medical residency training fund and a fast track of the completion of the residential quarters for resident doctors.

    He noted that many resident doctors were experiencing burnout from the pressure of commuting long distances in traffic to and from work daily, noting that this portends danger to the doctors and their patients.

    Similarly, Dr. Fatai Balogun, Publicity Secretary, Medical Guild, Lagos, said that NARD demands were germane and some long overdue.

    He appealed to the government to urgently respond to them, to avoid unnecessary collateral effects on the populace.

    Dr. Balogun said that locally, discussions were ongoing with stakeholders about peculiar local issues of concern, with regard to Lagos doctors.

    “Consultants are to do as much as they have always done in caring for their patients. They will continue to do so as they are not on strike. They can’t and don’t intend to take the role of resident doctors. It’s not even possible,” he added.

    (NAN)

     

  • NARD strike:  Activities grounded at ABUTH, other hospitals in Kaduna

    NARD strike:  Activities grounded at ABUTH, other hospitals in Kaduna

    The five-day nationwide warning strike embarked on by the National Association of Resident Doctors has grounded activities at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, and other hospitals in Kaduna State.

    A check by the News Agency of Nigeria at ABUTH, National Ear Care Centre and Federal Neuro-Psychiatry, Kaduna, revealed that few medical consultants were providing skeletal medical services.

    Mrs.  Afiniki James, a patient at the Ear Care Center Kaduna, told NAN that she was not attended to by doctors at the facility.

    She explained that only the consultants were working and they attended to a limited number of patients.

    James appealed to stakeholders in the sector to amicably settle the rift between the government and the association to reduce the hardship imposed on patients by the strike.

    Dr. Suleman Adah, NARD President, ABUTH Chapter, told NAN that the association had complied with the national directives to embark on the strike.

    He stressed that members of the association had earlier handed over patients to the consultants as they are not part of the strike.

    He, however, explained that resident doctors constituted the major workforce in the facility, as only a limited number of out-patients were attended to.

    “The few in-patients that were not discharged will be attended to by consultants at the facility.

    “I heard that the management has directed the consultants to attend to some emergencies, but definitely, they can’t work without resident doctors,’’ he said.

    On his part, the Deputy Caucus Leader of NARD for Northwest, Dr. Abass Ajayi, reiterated that compliance was mandatory as it was a directive from the national body of the association.

    He explained that the strike was a complete shutdown, as it involved both emergency and clinical operations in the hospitals.

    The association had ordered its members to embark on a five-day warning strike, which commenced on May 17.

    NARD is demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to 200 per cent of the current gross salaries of doctors.

    It is also agitating for the withdrawal of the Bill compelling medical and dental graduates to render five-year compulsory services in Nigeria before being granted full licences to practice.

    They also want the immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act, among others.

    (NAN)

    Image Source: Freedom Online

     

  • NARD fumes as Ngige condemns doctors’ ‘entitlement mentality’

    NARD fumes as Ngige condemns doctors’ ‘entitlement mentality’

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has described as absurd the demands being made and the ultimatum issued by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors to the Federal Government.

    Ngige said the government had given the doctors everything they wanted, adding that their sense of entitlement was “too much.”

    NARD had on Saturday given the Federal Government two weeks to meet its demands or face industrial disharmony.

    The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the current gross salaries of doctors.

    The doctors also want the immediate withdrawal of the bill seeking to compel medical and dental graduates to render five-year compulsory services in Nigeria before being granted full licence to practise.

    They also want the immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act and review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done; among others.

    But speaking on Arise Television on Monday, Ngige said the doctors’ demands were absurd, adding that they had the option of leaving the country.

    The minister said, “If the NARD, who we have been managing their matter…We are giving them everything they want, including their Medical Resident Training Fund; we are paying them, even when in training, paying them full salary, paying them all the allowances and you decided that we have not done enough. Like I said before, you have an option to go. It is left for the education ministry and the health ministry to fashion out what they can do.

    “You asked that a bill by one of the members of the House of Representatives be removed and that is one of the reasons you want to go on strike. How can the government tell a member who has done a private member’s bill… It is not even an executive bill, you now release it as one of the conditions of going on strike; that is absurd!

    “The entitlements syndrome, the sense of entitlement is too much in this country and like I said earlier, you obey the law you look odd, you apply the law, you look odd or you are a wicked man. I don’t have any apologies for whatever I have done in the management of trade disputes.”

    But reacting to the minister’s statement, NARD said every association deserved the right to ask for a salary increment.

    Speaking with The PUNCH, the Secretary-General of NARD, Dr Chikezie Kelechi, said, “We do not have an entitlement mentality and our demands are not absurd. Every association deserves the right to ask for an increment in salary.

    “The Medical Residency Training Fund has been there and has been paid about three times now. It is paid once a year and it was approved in 2017 and did not take effect until about three years ago. Even those three years, every time it is paid, there is a threat of a strike. The government does not ordinarily want to pay and these monies are appropriated but there is this unwillingness to pay. Every year, there has to be a threat of strike for them to pay.

    “We are tired of getting the government to do what they are supposed to do naturally. The first round of update courses for the year has been done, the first round of exams for the year has been concluded and these monies were not paid. So, what is he saying?

    “A fund has been provided in the budget but somebody is not willing to pay as and when due. It is not proper. When has demanding our rights become an entitlement mentality? When he said the government is providing everything we need, what exactly is being provided?

    “The Consolidated Medical Salary Structure was approved in 2009 but did not take effect until 2014 and it was meant to be reviewed in five years but it started implementation in the next five years. We are in 2023, the salary structure has not been reviewed despite the inflation.”

    Also, the President of the association, Emeka Orji, said doctors’ demands had been long overdue.

    “We have not gone on strike for some time now because we are considering Nigerians but this particular ultimatum is about Nigerians and if you want to be sincere you will know that there is brain drain and it is affecting the functionality of our hospitals.

    “People who visit public hospitals know that the quality of services has reduced, there is cancellation of surgeries and people are dying. We can’t wait until the system collapses, yet nobody has come out to address these issues or dispute it,” Orji said.

  • UK health practitioners’ recruitment restriction won’t stop brain drain –NARD president

    UK health practitioners’ recruitment restriction won’t stop brain drain –NARD president

    Lara Adejoro

    President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria, Dr. Emeka Orji, speaks with LARA ADEJORO on the United Kingdom’s code of practice for the international recruitment of health workers and the proposed bill compelling medical and dental graduates to serve for five years to earn a full licence.

    How will the UK’s recruitment policy for healthcare workers in Nigeria affect your members?

    What we know about the policy is that the UK is trying to ensure that it will not be consciously targeting Nigerian health workers through organised exit platforms without interfacing with the government. It is not only Nigeria that is affected. Following the World Health Organisation report, there are other countries that are affected; countries that have severe manpower shortages in their health sector and the UK does not want to actively poach health workers in those countries. That does not prevent anybody or individuals applying to UK institutions from getting absorbed. You know that what used to happen was that some agencies of UK origin would come to Nigeria to organise recruitment processes.

    What the UK is saying is that such institutionally organised recruitment processes may not happen again without discussing them with the Nigerian government. That is not going to stop anybody who wants to go to the UK. You also know that it is not only the UK that health workers go to. There are so many other options.

    For us, it is actually quite unfortunate, and we just hope that the Nigerian government does not have a hand in this. We have always said that even if you are not happy with the manpower shortage and, at the same time, people are leaving, we can do what India did since it is obvious that health workers here are sought after. We are well-trained, and other countries are coming for us. Instead of stopping them (health workers) from migrating, the rate of production should simply be increased.

    If you are producing like 3,000 doctors every year, you can increase to 6,000, invest in infrastructure, education, and health, and bring up more training institutions because when you do, these people go out there, they are still a source of foreign exchange for the country.

    They acquire these skills, and many of them still come back and use the skills to take care of Nigerians.

     

    I don’t see any reason any country will be making efforts to stop its people from going outside to work and acquiring more skills and acquiring forex for the country. I don’t see any reason any government will be working towards stopping that. What government should rather do is if it sees the brain affecting its manpower, then it simply increases production.

    Do you think the Federal Government influenced the UK policy?

    I remember that around last year, some members of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria went to the UK. They met with the officials of the General Medical Council, and there was this speculation that part of what they discussed was how they could prevail on the UK government through the GMC to stop poaching Nigerian health workers because of the massive brain drain we have.

    When some of us came out in condemnation of that move, somehow it was quickly denied by some officials of the MDCN. I can’t confirm whether that is true, but a rumour like that sometimes ends up being true, and a few months down the line, you see the UK government come out with this policy of placing Nigeria on the red list. You can put one or two things together and make up your mind on what you think happened.

    Have you received reports that some of your members who are processing travel to the UK through any recruitment agency are already affected by this policy?

    We have not got reports of that, but that policy will not entirely stop health workers from moving to the UK. They will still be going there, but what they are trying to do is reduce the numbers.

    But again, it is not only the UK that people go to.

     

    There are also so many other places. People go to the USA, Canada, Australia, and Kuwait; So the UK policy is not going to stop the brain drain. What will stop the brain drain is when the Nigerian government improves on the level of care, the standard of practice, the remuneration, the environment, and security.

    Even if the brain drain is still happening, you simply increase your level of production of health workers so that even if these people go out, you still have enough to take care of your people, and those who have gone out will be repatriating their foreign exchange to you, and some of them will still come back with the experience they have acquired.

    Do Nigerian doctors go to the UK more than other countries?

    We don’t have any studies in that regard. Many go to the UK; really, the UK is one of the choice destinations, but it is not the only one. I’ve not studied some of the data we have to show the percentage of those going to the UK versus those going to other places.

    Why are you not in support of the bill stopping doctors’ migration since the bill is said to address brain drain?

    The bill is not meant to address the brain drain. That is what the bill’s sponsors thought they were doing, but I believe there should be research behind every bill. Once you do not do research, you just end up bringing out a proposal that will ultimately embarrass the nation.

    That proposal will quickly draw the attention of everybody. Even the figures quoted there are wrong. The NARD has over 10,000 members. We are the largest affiliate of the Nigerian Medical Association, but we also have the Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria, General Practitioners, and others.

     

    Second, the sponsor said medical training was heavily subsidised, but that is a vague statement. We expect him to come up with figures and tell us the percentage of medical education the government is subsidising. That will help you to know what to propose as to how this subsidy will make the so-called people that benefit from it serve the nation. The lawmakers went all out to compare the tuition paid in Nigeria with that in the US.

    So why don’t you compare the salary structure, the environment, the incentives, and the welfare packages in Nigeria and the US? You wonder what the tuition you pay here and the tuition they pay there are supposed to cover. We know that in public schools, students must pay tuition, but that is not all. There are so many levels of payment you make: you buy your textbooks and handouts, and you buy everything in addition to paying tuition. Is it the same thing abroad? The answer is no.

    In private institutions, once you make that payment, they give you your book and a whole lot more. It’s when you get to the level of those details that you begin to know the facts of the subsidy you are talking about.

    The other issue is, are you subsidising only medical students? We know that medical students pay the highest fees; is there any special subsidy they give to medical students that they don’t give to others? That is not true.

    Again, you say that after you have been trained and have served the country for one year, your licence will not be given to you for five years. What exactly are you going to be doing in those five years without the licence? Do they want to create a pool of unlicensed doctors roaming the streets? What makes you a doctor is that license, so if they refuse to give it to you because they don’t want you to travel abroad, what are you going to be doing? Even if you succeed in keeping the medical doctors, have you really achieved anything? These people are still in the lower cadre. We are losing specialists and top medical personnel.

    That is the challenge, but you want to keep those in the lower cadre.

    This bill was not well researched, and people were not carried along. Nobody should tell us that they did not hold a public hearing because they did not waste taxpayers’ money to the extent that you read the bill a first and second time.

    The bill should be about making the government give doctors housing and car loans. If you do that and someone has keyed into it, the person will not leave. If the government can improve the conditions, I bet you that nobody will want to go anywhere. People enjoy staying in their fatherland, but they are forced to leave when there is no effort or seriousness on the part of the government in addressing the issues.

    They don’t mind being second-class citizens in those countries as long as they are in a good environment where their services are well appreciated and well-remunerated, and you have security, incentives, and equipment. There is no medical body in the country that was consulted about the bill. Even the doctors in the National Assembly were not consulted.

    Have you written to the National Assembly about that?

    We have sent a communiqué to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and we are calling for an immediate and complete withdrawal of that bill. It doesn’t even have to go for a public hearing. It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money, and people will have to travel from different parts of the country to hear a bill that is dead on arrival.

    There is no shortcut to the solution to brain drain. Everything is not about remuneration, but that is key. We have doctors who have worked for over 15 years, but they don’t have a house of their own. Equip the hospitals; we still have doctors on the street who have not been brought into the system because of the bureaucracy of the employment of government hospitals. Our state governors should also be aware of these responsibilities.

    They should fund their teaching hospitals and their secondary health facilities.

     

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  • UK restriction can’t stop doctors’ migration, say NMA, NARD

    UK restriction can’t stop doctors’ migration, say NMA, NARD

    Lara Adejoro

    Medical bodies in the countries have said the United Kingdom government’s code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel will not stop Nigerian doctors from migrating to other countries.

    According to them, the UK can only define its terms as freedom of movement is a fundamental right.

    The Nigerian Medical Association and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors were reacting to the UK code of practice, which listed Nigeria among 54 other countries where health workers should not be actively recruited.

    The UK explained that the 54 countries were those the World Health Organisation recognised as having most pressing health and care workforce-related challenges.

    The UK code read in part, “Countries on the list should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers, recruitment organisations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place to allow managed recruitment undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of that agreement.

    “Countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list are graded red in the code. If a government-to-government agreement is put in place between a partner country, which restricts recruiting organisations to the terms of the agreement, the country is added to the amber list.”

    Reacting to the restriction, the NMA President, Dr Uche Ojinmah, in an interview with The Reportr Door said Nigerian doctors migrate to other countries because they are poorly treated by the government.

    “I don’t actually begrudge the UK for recruiting Nigerian doctors because it’s the poor treatment they are getting from Nigeria that’s pushing them away. If the Nigerian government and people place a premium on Nigerians, they obviously won’t migrate.

    “It is okay that the UK is placing us on the lower rungs for recruitment but what about the United States of America, Canada, Grenada, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, South Africa, Germany, etc?

    “Nobody can take away the freedom of movement; it’s a fundamental right. They can only define the terms,” Ojinmah said.

    Also, the President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Dr Emeka Orji, said doctors can go to other countries to practise the profession.

    Orji said, “The truth is that it is not only the UK that Nigerian health workers go to and even with this list, it only means that they will not only be headhunting our health workers. So, that doesn’t mean people can’t apply to work in the UK.”

    The NMA president also said the restriction might not be unconnected with the Federal Government’s move to curb the brain drain in the country.

    “I know that last year, the MDCN Registrar went to the GMC and the report we got that time was that they discussed how to mitigate the effect of brain drain in Nigeria.

    “This is purely speculative but we believe this was part of what was discussed. We can’t confirm that but it is possible,” Ojinmah added.

    Some officials of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria had, in October 2022, visited the General Medical Council Office in Manchester, UK.

    The officials of the MDCN on the visit were its Chairman, Prof Abba Waziri; Registrar, Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, and the Head of Department, Registration, Dr Henry Okwukenye.

    The General Medical Council is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom.

    Parts of the tweet on MDCN’s Twitter handle @MDCNOfficial on the GMC’s visit read, “We had a lot of useful discussions amongst which is the possibility of the UK government to repatriate some funds in line with global health initiatives from Nigerian doctors who were trained with tax payers’ funds.

    “Discussion around stemming the tide of brain drain also took place.”

    The restriction by the UK comes amid a bill in the House of Representatives seeking to impose a five-year compulsory service on doctors as a condition to grant them full practice licence upon graduation.

    The NARD’s President added that, “It’s possible the Nigerian government pushed for this (the restriction) but we have not seen any official release to that effect.”

    He called on the Federal Government to improve the working condition of health workers and fund the health sector in order to discourage migration.

    He explained, “The government is now complaining that there is a brain drain but we have always known this and we have been talking about it. What is now expected is that government should increase the production capacity so that even when these foreign countries come for the doctors, nurses, and other health workers, you will turn it to an advantage, improve on training, infrastructure, improve your personnel and fund health, so that you will not be complaining to foreign countries to stop encroaching on your medical workforce. What you should be doing is encouraging it as long as you have enough. That is what India did.”

    The Reportr Door reports that there are currently 11,055 Nigerian-trained doctors in the UK, based on statistics obtained from the GMC.

    Nigeria has the third highest number of foreign doctors working in the UK after India, and Pakistan.

    Apart from Nigeria, some other countries placed by the UK on the red list of ‘No active recruitment’ are Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia.

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  • 5-year compulsory service bill is modern day slavery – NARD

    5-year compulsory service bill is modern day slavery – NARD

    The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has opposed the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022, meant to make it compulsory for graduates in medical and dental fields to work in Nigeria for five years before being granted full license.

    NARD described the bill as a definition of modern-day slavery.

    This was made known in a communiqué issued by the association at the end of its emergency extended National Officers’ Committee meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja.

    The communiqué was signed by the NARD President, Dr. Innocent Orji, Secretary-General, Dr. Kelechi Chikezie, and the Publicity and Social Secretary, Dr. Musa Umar.

    The piece of legislation, which was sponsored by a member of the House of Representatives from Lagos State, Ganiyu Johnson, states, “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, Cap. M379, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

    “It is to mandate any Nigeria-trained Medical or Dental Practitioner to Practise in Nigeria for a Minimum of Five years before being granted a full licence by the Council in order to make Quality Health Services available to Nigeria; and for Related Matters (HB.2130).”

    The bill was passed for second reading on April 6.

    According to NARD, “The extended NOC admonishes the House of Representatives that the obnoxious bill as sponsored by Rep. Ganiyu Johnson is a clear definition of modern-day slavery and not in keeping with anything civil and so should be thrown away at this point.

    “The house, however, agreed with him on the palpable dangers of the current menace of brain drain in the health sector and promises to work with the government to reverse the trend when the government is ready to come up with genuine solutions to the problem.

    “The extended NOC reiterates that any attempt by the government or any of her agencies to enslave Nigerian medical doctors under any guise would be strongly and vehemently resisted by the association.”

    NARD also called on the Federal Government to expedite action on the processing and payment of the reviewed Medical Residency Training Fund for the year 2023, stressing that the funds were meant to offset debts associated with update courses.

    The funds are also meant for the examinations of both the National and West African Postgraduate Colleges, which have since kicked off for the year.

    “The extended NOC urges the Federal Government to keep to agreements reached by the stakeholders constituted by the Federal Ministry of Health on the implementation of the 2023 MRTF and to expedite action on its payment immediately.

    “Any attempts to do otherwise would only throw the health sector into another series of undesired crises,” it stated.

    The association also called for immediate action to be taken by the federal government as regards the upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, which has not been done for over ten years, and to ensure the implementation of same before May 29.

    NARD, however, appreciated the federal government for the near completion of the payment of 2020 MRTF and the reviewed hazard allowance arrears.

    It urged the federal government to ensure that the few persons yet to be paid are settled immediately.

    (NAN)

     

  • 85% doctors planning to leave Nigeria, says NARD

    85% doctors planning to leave Nigeria, says NARD

    Lara Adejoro

    At least 85 per cent of Nigerian doctors are planning to leave the country to seek greener pastures, Sunday Reportr Door has learnt.

    This is according to the data obtained from the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors.

    The report also showed that the preferred countries for immigration intentions are the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

    The NARD members are House Officers, Registrars, Senior Registrars, and Medical Officers below the level of Principal Medical Officers.

    Speaking with our correspondent, the President of the association, Dr. Emeka, said if the government did not take steps to address the ongoing brain drain in the country, the situation will get worse in the health sector.

    “When we are saying these things, it looks as if it’s a joke. Mobility of labour is acceptable anywhere and what the government should do is address the root causes of the immigration of doctors, as long as they don’t address it, when they see better opportunities out there, they will want to go there.

    “It’s about the choices people make about themselves when they think that the government is not taking care of them. The government needs to improve on the things we have highlighted to reduce the brain drain,” he said.

    He noted that as of October 2022, there were only 10,000 resident doctors in the country.

    “Five months after, and we don’t have any reason to suggest that there is a downward scale of doctors migrating, if anything should be, it should be an increment in the immigration because nothing essentially has changed in terms of the working condition, infrastructure, security and all that,” he added.

    Going by this figure, it means that 8,500 resident doctors plan to leave the country.

    The 2023 macroeconomic outlook report released by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group recently said that aside from the considerable health infrastructural gap, Nigeria has lost many medical professionals to brain drain, leading to personnel inadequacy in the health sector.

    The report said, “One of the major factors inhibiting Nigeria’s economic development has been the brain drain and knowledge gap in human capital. Knowledge as a significant driver of economies of scale can be increased by investing in education and providing better health services, which is the nation’s human capital formation.

    “An equipped labour force, a stable economic environment, a thriving private sector, and robust social welfare programmes are crucial in attaining Shared Prosperity in Nigeria.”

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  • NARD laments unpaid 1,600 resident doctors’ training fund

    NARD laments unpaid 1,600 resident doctors’ training fund

    Lara Adejoro

    No fewer than 1,600 members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors from over 30 health facilities in the country are yet to be paid their Medical Residency Training Fund since 2020, Sunday Reportr Door reports.

    This is even as NARD warned that it might take a drastic action if nothing was done by the Federal Government to pay the doctors the MRTF and address its other demands.

    The association had last year asked the government to pay the 2020 MRTF to members who were yet to be paid and to review the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, among others.

    The medical residency training is a postgraduate specialist training for medical practitioners and dental surgeons to be certified as specialists in a specialised branch of medicine or dentistry.

    The MRTF is the fund paid to resident doctors by the Federal Government through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system for the purpose of the training programme.

    Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, NARD President, Dr. Emeka Orji, said the association would write government regarding its growing concerns.

    “For 2020, we have over 1,600 resident doctors who have not been paid the MRTF. You can see it’s a large number of people from 30 centres involved.

    “We are going to have our January National Emergency Council meeting in Uyo in less than three weeks. In fact, we are preparing to write to the government to notify them of this growing agitation.

    “Remember, there was an ultimatum last year which has elapsed. People should not be surprised if we end that meeting in Uyo with something drastic, so we need to call the attention of the government and see how they can address them before that meeting.

    “We have done everything that we have been asked to do and provided everything that we were asked to provide and up till now, I think the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Finance have not come to an agreement of what is required before the doctors who were omitted in 2020 would be paid.

    “We just see it as a delay tactics; we have done the leg work, trying to convince them but there is a limit to what the national officers can do. We are only worried that this is a very critical time in this country to shut down health services and that is why we are going to draw the attention of the government to it this week, hoping that they see the danger and try to address these things.”

    Speaking further, Orji said the association was not aware of any plan by the government to review doctors’ salaries.

    “The government has agreed to set up a committee for the review of CONMESS but as it is, NARD is not aware whether the committee has been set up or it is meeting. As far as we are concerned as an association, we have not seen any movement on the part of the government to accede to that demand because we have not been called to any meeting about that.”

    Efforts to reach the Deputy Director/Head, Media and Publicity of the Federal Ministry of Health, Ahmadu Chindaya, for comments proved abortive.

    He did not take his calls and had yet to respond to a text message sent to him as of press time.

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  • How new law can curb violence against health workers —HCPAN, NARD 

    How new law can curb violence against health workers —HCPAN, NARD 

    Angela Onwuzoo

    The leadership of the Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors have backed the call by the Nigerian Medical Association asking the National Assembly to come up with a law that will criminalise violence against healthcare workers in the country. 

    Recall that the NMA made the call following the murder of one of its members, Dr. Uyi Iluobe, who was reportedly killed by relatives of his patient at a hospital in Oghara, Delta State on December 31st, 2022.

    Speaking with Reportr Door HealthWise, the National President of HCPAN, Dr. Austin Aipoh said the law was long overdue, lamenting that attacks on health practitioners by patients’ relatives have assumed a worrisome dimension in recent times. 

    Aipoh said, “Attacks on health workers by relatives of deceased patients have been on but not on this large scale.

    “The truth is that it has been happening but not of this magnitude. It has reached this level where a relative of the patient has to assault the doctor or health workers physically or take the life of a doctor. 

    “It is very appalling. When there is a law, Nigerians and the public will now abide by the law. But when there is no law, people begin to do things anyhow and nobody suffers any consequences.” 

    The physician said a law that will make it an offence to attack health workers in the course of caring out their duties to patients would help checkmate the excesses of patients’ relatives. 

    “If we have a law protecting health workers, doctors, pharmacists, nurses, lab scientists, and all the like, then anybody who goes to attack them in the course of doing their job will suffer some consequences. 

    “So, it is a very good call by the Nigerian Medical Association because right now, there is no law protecting health workers in Nigeria. 

    “If anybody injures or kills the health worker, the person will go unpunished because no law says you cannot touch the health worker. The law will go a log in curbing attacks on health workers by patients and their relatives,” he explained.

    The public health physician said that the attack on health workers had further worsened the acute brain drain in the health sector. 

    Aipoh noted, “If we have a law by the National Assembly then it will be clear, people will now know that if you assault a health worker or any health practitioner, you can go to jail. 

    “People would now learn. People should know that it is God that gives lives, doctors only try their best to save lives. 

    “No doctor or any health practitioner wants somebody to die because they are not going to gain anything if somebody is dead. 

    “Ours is to save lives and if in the process of saving lives and some lives were lost because of the type of illness or ailment that the person had, then, relatives should not vent their anger on the doctor as it was not the doctor that killed the patient. 

    “This is important especially now that we are trying to encourage doctors to stay in Nigeria. Nobody wants to stay and if you don’t have doctors in any country that country will suffer.”

    The public health physician said it would be difficult for hospitals in the country to provide adequate security for all the health workers.

    According to him, it is the responsibility of the government to do so. 

    “In Nigeria, you are not expected to carry a gun. The only thing health practitioners can do is to have people around them in case of any assaults. 

    “The responsibility falls on the government to protect the doctors just the way they protected other persons,” he added.

    On the issue of medical practitioners requiring a police report before treating patients with a gunshot wound, the HCPAN leader explained,” The law in Nigeria now says that if a doctor has a case of a gunshot, he will treat if he can treat and then, call in the police. 

    “If you can’t treat, you can only give first aid and refer. Now you can treat a patient with a gunshot wound first and get the police report later. 

    “When doctors refer patients based on their expertise, it is wrong for the relatives of the patient to vent their anger toward the doctor. 

    “Nigerians need enlightenment to know that a doctor does not know everything. There are areas where he can work, there also are areas where he cannot work.”

    Aipoh also called for mass enlightenment of Nigerians to further curb the menace of attacks on health workers.

    Also speaking with our correspondent, the National President of NARD and Senior Registrar, Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, Federal Medical Centre Umuahia, Abia State, Dr. Emeka Orji, also decried the rise in attacks on medical practitioners in the country. 

    Orji corroborated the HCPAN president’s statement saying, “We agree with our parent body. We believe the legislation will help address the problem. But you will agree with me that it is a long-term plan. But something has to be done now to tackle the problem. There should be an arrangement to secure the hospitals.”

    Recall that a relative of a patient allegedly murdered the late Dr. Uyi Iluobe on 31st December 2022 when the late doctor demanded that the relatives first get a police report and in the process, the patient died. 

    Similarly, it was reported that an angry father and son had on 21 December 2022 descended heavily on a medical doctor and a nurse at the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta after losing their family member.

    Pandemonium broke out at the emergency ward of the hospital shortly after a 53-year-old female patient died.

    Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Ogun State Chapter, Dr. Kunle Ashimi said that the father and son slapped the doctor while the death of their relative who died of heart failure was announced to them.

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  • 10,000 resident doctors remaining in Nigeria – NARD

    10,000 resident doctors remaining in Nigeria – NARD

    Lara Adejoro

    The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has said the number of medical doctors in the country decreases daily, adding that only about 10,000 resident doctors are left.

    The President of the association, Dr Emeka Orji, stated this during an interview with The Reportr Door on Monday.

    According to Orji, about 100 resident doctors leave the country monthly to seek greener pastures.

    He said, “I know that as of now, we have just about 24,000 doctors, including the consultants, resident doctors, house officers, and medical officers. Out of the over 80,000 doctors registered, about 64 per cent are not in service; some have emigrated out of the country, some have retired, others have changed to other professions and others have died.

    “The resident doctors used to be 16,000 but currently, we are doing around 9,000 to 10,000. We cannot put an absolute figure to that because every day, people leave. So, we have an average of about 9,000 to 10,000 resident doctors across the country.

    “In total, we have 24,000 doctors including consultants, resident doctors, medical officers, and house officers. The World Health Organisation recommended one doctor to 600 patients but right now in Nigeria, we are doing one doctor to 10,000 patients.”

    The NARD president also noted that the major causes of the emigration were poor remuneration, poor welfare, and lack of housing schemes.

    “We have poor working conditions in this country; we are essential workers and it is expected that government should do whatever it can to make sure that they improve the working condition. If the health sector is going to survive, everybody must be involved.

    “This year, between January and August, we lost about 800 and when we asked them why they are leaving, 80 per cent of them reported that it was because of poor remuneration and poor living conditions,” Orji added.

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