The federal government said a committee has been set up to work on salary of medical doctors and other health professionals
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, said over 17,000 doctors were trained in Nigerian universities in the last five years, but more than half of them left the country for other countries. He regretted that young doctors trained leave the country.
Speaking in an interview with Channels TV, on Tuesday, Pate explained that the federal government plans to provide a conducive environment for not just medical doctors but all health workers.
He added that the government aims to make the country’s healthcare sector attractive for health professionals in other countries to return.
Ali Pate noted that most Nigerian health workers in other countries have started coming back to set up practice centers in the country because of the federal government’s policies aimed at reviving the health sector.
Pate emphasized that President Bola Tinubu‘s administration may not pay as much as the United Kingdom to her medical doctors and other health workers because of the economic difference between the two countries.
Pate said, “This is about the health workforce, which is a tapestry of all kind of exceptional professionals, doctors included, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, and others that are serving population.
“Now, anyone that asks the question that you have just asked, I will say, let them understand a little bit better economics, because the UK GDP is very different from the Nigerian GDP. The purchasing power of the pound in the UK is different from what it is today.
“The taxi ride in London is very different from what it is in Abuja. There are other things beyond monetary compensation that is of value to individuals. There is meaning. This is our country. We have a moment in time that we can rebuild it and make it great.
“And there are difficulties that we’ll have to walk through and there are sacrifices that we’ll have to make through.”
The Minister of Health advised that Nigerian health workers outside the country have to also pay some sacrifice for the country’s health sector to work.
“If I had looked purely on the base of economic terms, I wouldn’t leave the compensation that I was entitled to sitting and doing probably half what I’m doing currently to do that. But I came because I know that there is a meaning.
“This is a country that has educated me. This is where my family is, my relatives. And I got my education in this country and have an opportunity to serve.
“So there are doctors, many of them all over the world that are juggling these issues. And we cannot force the answers on them. Everyone will have to reach this conclusion. But I tell you, there are doctors that are leaving the United States, coming back to Nigeria to set up practice, any much less, but it’s meaningful to them.
“I know some that left the UK doing sophisticated, fantastic jobs in oncology that are setting up practices in Lagos. My colleague, the Minister of State, has a phenomenal practice in Chicago. He is here, running around, doing the work that we need to do to rebuild this country.
“Recently, the president signed the minimum wage law. And with that, there are implications. And there is a salary committee working on the compensation. You want me to just announce that?
“That’s not what I’m going to do here. It’s not just about the economic remuneration. If we make it up, it’s an overall package.”
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