President Bola Tinubu has expressed worry over the mass exodus of health workers who are leaving the country in search of greener pastures elsewhere around the world blaming the country policies for the exile. Special Adviser to president Tinubu on Public Health Matters, Salma Anas, expressed worry on behalf of the president today during the 2023 annual conference of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists in Abuja, themed ‘Universal health coverage: The medical laboratories priority in Nigeria.’
According to Anas, the President is working towards improving Nigeria’s health sector through some conscious effort that will soon present a positive result in the sector, calling of the health workers to give their country a chance.
She said, “President Bola Tinubu is worried about the ‘japa syndrome’ which we inherited from previous administrations for obvious reasons.
Salma explained that “Part of our commitment is that we want to reverse that ugly trend and ensure that we sustain and retain our medical experts within the country through several interventions and measures.
“Part of the efforts is the motivation of our health sector workers within Nigeria, not only through regular payment of salaries and allowances but also in terms of provision of conducive working environment. We will do this through the provision of state-of-the-art medical facilities at all levels especially the primary level of healthcare.”
She disclosed that the federal government is working towards increasing the number of health workers in the country.
In his remarks during the occasion, the National President, Association of Medical Laboratory of Nigeria, Bassey Bassey, explained efforts being made by the system to weed out quackery in the health sector.
Bassey revealed that the body in collaboration with other partners have successfully shut down many unregistered laboratories in the country to reduce wrong diagnosis and other related illegal activities that is being perpetrated in the health sector.
The body noted that plans are underway to begin the process of manufacturing equipment and other needed essential medical items in Nigeria.
