Pulse Opinion: Ngige needs a doctor

Ever been to a public healthcare facility in Nigeria? You must have heard hospital attendants tell you: "We're are so sorry. There is only one doctor on shift this morning and he (or she) is not on seat. Please be patient." This would be after you have picked a number and you're probably "99" on the queue at about 10:00 a.m.

The doctor arrives and because there are lots of patients, he spends little time with as many of you as possible, prescribes tests and drugs then leaves when his time is up. Often, this doctor may not have received his salary or other allowances due to him. Morale is low as he gears up for an industrial action. Another option available to this health professional, is to leave the shores of Nigeria to other countries where he would not need to protest or down tools to get what's due to him.

On Tuesday, March 26, 2019, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health organised a recruitment exercise in Abuja and Lagos to employ medical consultants, specialists and medical officers in various fields with priority areas such as anaesthesia, ICU, paediatrics, surgery, emergency and internal medicine as well as ophthalmology. The Saudi Health ministry was offering to pay between $3,000 (equivalent of N1 million) and $8,333 (equivalent of N3 million) as monthly salary. Again, he would not need to protest to get paid.

At about 6:30 a.m, the Ladi Kwali hall at Sheraton Hotel, venue of the exercise, in Abuja was filled to the brim as more medical personnel arrived in droves aware of the limited slots. If possible, they all would leave Nigeria for Saudi Arabia. These professionals would leave Nigeria not because they were unpatriotic but because of a system failure.

In 2017, a survey conducted by NOI found out that nine in 10 Nigerian doctors were seeking opportunity to go and practise abroad – and while 98 percent of the respondents cited high taxes and deductions from salary as challenges that force doctors to consider leaving abroad, 92 percent gave their reasons as low work satisfaction while 91 percent cited poor salaries and emoluments. In 2018, a research by Africa Check showed that at least 12 doctors leave Nigeria for the United Kingdom every week. It keeps getting worse.

So, when the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, appeared on ChannelsTV breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, to tell the world that doctors werefree to leave Nigeriabecause the country had them in surplus, one wonders how he made the cut for a position in President Muhammadu Buhari's cabinet after a six-month search.

“We have more than enough doctors. You can quote me," Ngige tells Maupe Ogun, who had queried the Minister over concerns that the country could be losing some of its best hands due to brain drain in the health sector. "We have surplus. If you have surplus, you export. There is nothing wrong in them travelling out. When they go abroad, they earn money and send them back home here.”

While defending his ill-thought out comment, Ngige, a medical doctor himself, would tell the world that it was a good thing for medical professionals to leave Nigeria.

“When they (doctors) go abroad, they earn money and send them back home here. Yes, we have foreign exchange earnings from them and not just oil. Will you call that brain drain? So, I don’t see any loss,” the Minister adds.

Yes. You heard that right.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends one doctor to 600 patients. Data by the global health body showed that with 3.8 doctors to 10,000 patients, Nigeria, when compared to developed countries, is among the countries with very poor doctor-to-patient ratio as of 2013.

Austria has 49.3 doctors for every 10,000 citizens; 39 doctors for same in Argentina; 33.8 in Australia; 34.5 in Azerbaijan; 39.7 in Bulgaria; 45.1 in Georgia; 40 in Germany; 60 in Greece and as much as 73.3 in Croatia.

Israel has 35 doctors for 10,000 patients; Italy, 39; Monaco, 65; the Netherlands, 33; Cote d’Ivoire, 30; and South Africa, 7.4 to 10,000 patients.

Similarly, statistics released by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) showed that as of December 2017, Nigeria had 39,912 registered medical doctors. What this means is that with a population of approximately 193 million in 2016, there was just one doctor to 4,845 Nigerians.

It is disheartening that Nigeria keeps losing some of its best hands to other countries. This is applicable in almost all the sectors. Worse is when a Minister insults the sensibility of millions of Nigerians by covering up facts available to all of us.

If Ngige, who became a medical doctor in 1979, claims ignorance of the mess in Nigeria's health sector, he should be reminded that even President Buhari would rather get medical attention in the United Kingdom than the State House Clinic situated within his official residence. It is that bad.

It was embarrassing to watch Nigeria's Labour Minister exhibit such high-level ignorance or sheer mischief on national television. To later say he was misquoted points to the fact that the Minister needs a quick medical check up. One, only a fellow doctor can provide.