Favour Ozioma Ogbodo
The departments of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), neurology and others in the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi, Abuja, have been hit by the brain drain of medical professionals as 51 staff have resigned since 2023.
This is according to the medical director of hospital, Prof Sa’ad Ahmed, who made the disclosure during an oversight visit by the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions on Tuesday.
He stated: ‘We only have one consultant there. We run clinics once a week there. We also have the challenge in the cardiology department, and more people are coming for those services. In physiotherapy, about four or five people have left. Every department is affected.
“Currently, we are facing a manpower shortage in the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department. We equally have challenges in the department of neurology as we only have one consultant there, we run clinics once a week there. We also have the challenge in the cardiology department, and more people are coming for those services. In physiotherapy, about four or five people have left. Every department is affected.
“This year alone, about 51 staff have left the facility. It is biting, and it will continue to bite. We can talk about one-for-one replacement, but sometimes you cannot get that level of experience of the person that is leaving.”
On its part, the committee assured that the House is working to reduce medical tourism and relocation of health workers in search of greener pastures.
Speaking on the poor funding of the sector, the chairman of the committee, Amos Magaji, assured that they will work towards improving budgetary allocation for health. He added that the visit was aimed at assessing the situation at the hospital before before the 2024 budget is presented to ascertain areas of intervention.
The lawmaker stated, “Until you are sick, you will not know the value of health, and no matter how much you have, there are certain emergencies that if you do not have hospitals to respond to you, you would have died before reaching the Mediterranean Sea, and we need to have our system working.
“One of the key areas this committee is really looking into is the reversal of medical tourism, we are not saying it should be stopped, but it should be reversed. We want to see that people are coming from Niger Republic, Ghana, and Egypt to access healthcare here. We are going to see that medical tourism is reduced, and it cannot reduce until we deal with the issues of manpower, equipment, infrastructure, and we will see that these are achieved especially in the Federal Capital Territory.”
