| dc.description.abstract | The Federal Government of Nigeria has entered a Technical Manpower Assistance (TMA) agreement with Saint Lucia to deploy Nigerian doctors abroad, offering up to N40.8 million per annum compared to the N 11.9 million currently earned on average at home by the health workers. However, the move has sparked sharp opposition from the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), which argues that sending doctors abroad amid severe domestic shortages is counterproductive, especially as Nigeria continues to lose approximately 16,000 doctors over the last 5-7 years due to brain drain. With a doctor to-population ratio of only 3.9 per 10,000 patients, which is below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended threshold of one doctor to 600 persons with 4 doctors attending to almost 10,000 patients. Experts has warned that this deployment further weakens the healthcare systems, strains the remaining workforce, and undermines long-term economic and public health outcomes.
To address the implications of exporting health workers to other countries for better pay, and proffering actionable policy pathways to mitigate further poor health system in Nigeria as a result of brain drain, the brief hereby recommends the following:
i. The National Assembly, through its oversight functions, may wish to advise the federal government on the need to reconsider the TMA agreement, putting into cognisance the Nigerian healthcare condition, to ensure the health sector do not collapse due to mass exodus of health workers to other countries for a better pay;
ii. The National Assembly through its Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Primary, Senate and House Committee on Primary Health Care and Communicable Diseases, and Senate and House Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders like the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) convene a public dialogue on the need to enact legislation to mandate competitive health workers salary scales in Nigeria to encourage them to offer their services at home without looking elsewhere also to attract best hands from other countries. | en_US |
