{"id":19477,"date":"2025-09-25T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=19477"},"modified":"2025-09-25T09:30:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:30:35","slug":"healthcare-crisis-what-govt-can-do-to-stop-mass-migration-of-doctors-nma-nard-amlsn-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/healthcare-crisis-what-govt-can-do-to-stop-mass-migration-of-doctors-nma-nard-amlsn-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare crisis: What govt can do to stop mass migration of doctors \u2014 NMA, NARD, AMLSN, others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LAGOS \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, among others, yesterday raised alarm over increasing migration of medical professionals abroad, warning that the development, popularly known as Japa syndrome, is putting too much pressure on the healthcare system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To rescue the country from the syndrome, which has led to the near collapse of the country\u2019s healthcare system, the professional bodies also charted a way forward for the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President of NARD, Dr Tope Osundara, who raised the alarm at the opening of the association\u2019s 45th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference in Katsina yesterday, noted that the number of resident doctors in the country had dropped from about 15,000 in 2014 to roughly 8,000 this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cThe constant quest for better living conditions always drives migration. Migration in Nigeria is fuelled by factors such as poor remuneration, exhaustive working conditions, and a shortage of manpower, which we have witnessed in an unprecedented way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018\u2019The exodus of health workers has potentially increased the percentage of critically ill patients, with an inadequate healthcare workforce to cater for their health needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolicies on incentives, salaries, wages should strengthen the morale of health workers, reduce attrition, and align with organisational goals. Training should also be targeted at enhancing employee skill, confidence, and dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018\u2019For over a decade, there was no attempt through a collective bargaining agreement to enhance the salaries of medical doctors in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been noted that the strongest reward to motivate health workers in Nigeria is payment of salary and other financial incentives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While appreciating members of NARD for being able to navigate all of the challenges, Dr Osundare said further: \u201cI\u2019m proud to say to you, thank you, everyone, for your dedication and hard work, which has enabled us to navigate all of these challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooking back on my time as your president, it is evident that we have made giant strides in enhancing the welfare of Nardites.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recall that on September 15, NARD suspended its five-day warning strike after just two days, granting the Federal Government a two-week grace period to meet its demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The association said it will reconvene on September 26 during its Annual General Meeting to decide on resuming the industrial action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Osundare said the decision was reached to show goodwill to Nigerians and to allow government time to address lingering welfare issues affecting doctors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is because we want, having negotiated with us, to give government ample time to perfect their plans in addressing all the other concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur members felt that since we have also extended a friendly hand, we should extend a hand of goodwill, especially to the Nigerian populace, who are grappling with harsh economic conditions, alongside the challenges they face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the doctors were not backing down on their demands but only suspended action temporarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Govt must give incentives to doctors \u2014 NMA<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On its part, the Nigeria Medical Association, Lagos State chapter, outlined key measures government must adopt to stem the exodus of doctors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chairman, Dr. Babajide Saheed, said: \u201cThere are four major things government can do to stop the Japa Syndrome. First, improve remuneration through upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, CONMESS, professional allowances, and implementation of non-taxable call duty allowances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSecond, provide better welfare packages, including housing loans spread over 10\u201315 years and car loans over five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThird, invest in the training and re-training of doctors locally and abroad. Fourth, improve infrastructure and create a conducive working environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stressed that conducive conditions from call rooms, consulting rooms, theatres, and offices to welfare and empathy for professionals were just as important as salary increases in retaining doctors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the board, health professionals warned that Nigeria cannot continue subsidising foreign health systems with its scarce human resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They urged government to prioritise fair pay, improved welfare, infrastructure investment, inclusive leadership, and regulatory reforms to stop the brain drain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria bleeding from health workforce exodus \u2013 AMLSN<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, described the mass migration of health professionals as a national emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President of the group, Dr. Casmir Ifeanyi, said: \u201cNigeria is bleeding, not through bullets or bombs, but the steady flight of her most critical human resource, her health workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery week, doctors, nurses, medical laboratory scientists, pharmacists, and other professionals leave for foreign lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are not abandoning their country out of disloyalty. They are being pushed away by conditions that make it nearly impossible to serve with dignity at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that tens of thousands of health workers have left in the last three years alone, leaving hospitals and laboratories overstretched, with longer waiting time, declining service quality and rising patient deaths from otherwise preventable conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnless decisive action is taken, Nigeria risks hollowing out her health system to the point of collapse,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ifeanyi listed urgent steps, such as fair and timely pay; safe workplaces with proper equipment; structured career growth opportunities; accurate workforce data; ethical management of international recruitment; and diaspora engagement through knowledge transfer and temporary return programmes, as a way out of the present situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe clarion call is clear: the time to act is now. Health workforce migration is draining the lifeblood of our system. Delay will be catastrophic, but decisive action can save lives and restore hope,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motivation must be holistic \u2013 PSN<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Former chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, Lagos, who is also member of the PSN Board of Trustees, Bola Oyawole, condemned what he described as \u201cselective compensation\u201d for physicians by the federal ministry of health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA holistic motivation through much improved benefit and welfare packages for all health workers, not discriminatory and selective mechanisms for physicians, is what is required,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He revealed that over 8,000 pharmacists have failed to renew their subscriptions in the past five years due to migration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAGOS \u2014\u00a0The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, AMLSN, among others, yesterday raised alarm over increasing migration of medical professionals abroad, warning that the development, popularly known as Japa syndrome, is putting too much pressure on the healthcare system. To rescue the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-79-e1758788975722.png?fit=500%2C263&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19481,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19477\/revisions\/19481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}