Angela Onwuzoo
A Specialist Registrar at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo State, Dr. Julian Ojebo, has said that the Federal Government can end the brain drain in the medical profession by using technology to solve the various problems in the health sector and by also providing a single digit loan to the doctors.
Ojebo, a past First Vice-President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, said other countries like China that have got their healthcare system right were able to do so using technology and by providing a better environment for their doctors.
The anaesthesiologist disclosed this during an interview with PUNCH HealthWise.
He stressed that when better remuneration and a working environment are provided by the government for the doctors, Nigerian physicians abroad would return home and contribute their quota to the growth of the nation’s health sector.
The physician said, “Brain can be reversed in two ways. First, by creating a better environment for emigrated doctors to come back and ply their trade in Nigeria. Second, by giving them single-digit loans to encourage them to come back. Lagos and Abuja as I always tell people can be the next industrial hub to cut down the brain drain. Yet, the Federal government is not doing anything because of the type of minister of health that we have.
“The Federal government can end brain drain using technology. The technology will help give you the number of doctors that have emigrated as well as the number of doctors practicing in the country. Technology will help you know which field you have more patients load.
For example, hypertension is a problem in Nigeria, and with technology, you now know the number of cardiologists in the country and the number needed.
“And with technology, you know how to train those cardiologists.”
Ojebo noted that the use of technology will enhance knowledge sharing between Nigerian trained medical doctors and their foreign counterparts and also promotes technology transfer in the health sector.
He stated, “Using technology and single digit loans will reduce brain drain in the health sector. The interest rate should be in the single digit. Look at Duchess International Hospital, Lagos, the Bank of Industry gave them a single-digit loan.
“That is why you are seeing what you are seeing at Duchess International Hospital, Lagos. If all of these can be multiplied in different geo-political zones using the Nigerian Medical Association and our members that are interested in getting these single-digit loans and have a collaborative effort in each geo-political zone, the brain drain problem will be reduced drastically.
“If there is a Duchess International Hospital in each geo-political zone, brain drain will come down. Why? Remuneration will be there for the doctors that are coming to work in these geo-political zones. There will be sharing of ideas between the locally trained and foreign-trained doctors. There will be sharing of technology with better standards of practice. Also, these people from outside the country will come in and invest and bring their technology into the country. They will train and retrain local doctors here.”
On why doctors are leaving the country, the physician noted, “There are three reasons why they go abroad. Remuneration, the standard of work, and social amenities.
“Remuneration can be sorted out by public-private partnerships, providing single digit loans for doctors that emigrated from Nigeria as well as standard of care. Let them come back and build infrastructures, they will bring their expertise and all of those into Nigerian space. There will be training and retraining of consultants with better standards of care.”
He maintained that if social amenities improve and the Federal government removes bureaucratic bottlenecks in the allowances of doctors and encourages training of doctors, all these will effectively help tackle brain drain.
He urged the government to take care of the doctors while they are taking care of the health of the citizens.
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