Protests over a plan by the National Assembly to introduce a compulsory five-year service licensing for Nigerian trained doctors has continued with the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP) faulting the move, just as the United Kingdom government seeks to blacklist medical workers from Nigeria and other countries.
Instead of the planned legislation by the federal lawmakers, the ANPMP prefers the federal government declares a national emergency in the health sector .
The National Officers Committee (NOC) of the NARD expressed shock and disappointment, at the attempts by the House of Representatives to enslave Nigerian-Trained doctors for five years post-graduation before they can be issued full practicing licenses or allowed to travel abroad if they so wished.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has stopped “active recruitment” of skilled and experienced health and social care personnel from Nigeria and 53 other countries globally, mostly African nations.
According to a Channels Television report on its website, the United Kingdom, in its updated ‘Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England’, placed Nigeria and the other countries on its red list which was based on the World Health Organisation Workforce Support and Safeguard List, 2023.
The other countries on the red list include 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, Laos, and Lesotho.
Others are Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Micronesia, Mozambique, Niger, Pakistan , Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Tanzania, Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
“There must be no active international recruitment from countries on the red list, unless there is an explicit government-to-government agreement to support managed recruitment activities that are undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of that agreement,” the UK said in its updated policy on social and health workers released in March 2023.
The British Government, however, said the list doesn’t prevent individual health and social care personnel from independently applying to health and social care employers for employment in the UK, “of their own accord and without being targeted by a third party, such as a recruitment agency or employer (known as a direct application)”.
The UK also said the restrictions do not apply to health workers from countries on the red list but who do not reside there or in another red list country.
After a meeting at the weekend, the NOC of the association of resident doctors also decried the inability of the Federal Government to review the CONMESS salary structure despite several promises, even with the imminent change in Government.
The Association was equally worried over the downgrading of the membership certificate of the West African Postgraduate Colleges by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
But it commended the Ekiti and Bayelsa State Governments for the adoption and implementation of the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) as well as the payment of the reviewed hazard allowance by the Ekiti State Government.
Its extraordinary National Executive Council Meeting will hold in the next two weeks to review the issues raised and determine the next line of action
The National President of the ANPMP, Dr Kayode Adesola, said on Monday in Lagos that tthebill in the National Assembly for the five-year compulsory service for doctors could worsen brain drain in the country adding that medical doctors don’t need Nigerian license to practice in other cocountries.
According to him, the bill would have an adverse effect on the health sector as it was premised on the wrong notion that such a measure would solve brain drain in the sector, noting further that the proponents of the bill didn’t conduct an in-depth research on the factors driving the brain drain crisis nor engaged health stakeholders on the implications before moving such a bill.
“We keep saying that the health sector needs urgent attention. Our health system is not working and many Nigerians are dying because of the underfunding of the sector.
“We have teaching hospitals, general hospitals and primary healthcare centres that are dilapidated with outdated equipment.
“Political leaders are seeking medical treatment abroad while the citizens are left to suffer in a country that has one of the best doctors in the world.
“Before it was the young doctors leaving but now, the consultants are leaving. Many health workers left because of insecurity, not just poor remuneration or poor working conditions.
“Insecurity is impacting negatively on the health of Nigerians and the ability of healthcare workers to deliver services to Nigerians
“Asides the medical doctor that was killed at his clinic on Dec.31, 2022; two other doctors have also been killed and nothing has been done to rectify the situation,” he said.
He noted that the issue of brain drain was multifaceted and requires a more comprehensive approach to tackle it.
▪︎ Additional report by Channels Television
