Kunle Adelabu
-We need more teaching hospitals – MD, GH Ikorodu
The Ayangbure of Ikorodu, His Royal Majesty, Oba Kabir Adewale Shotobi, has counseled doctors and other health professionals on the need to stay back in the country to use their knowledge in salvaging the country.
The royal father, who gave the advice during his visit to the General Hospital (GH), Ikorodu, January 1, 2024, for the First Baby of the year celebration, also assured the medical professionals that the country will be better in 2024.
Moreso, Oba Shotobi assured the doctors that President Bola Tinubu will deliver on his promise of making Nigeria great again.
Also, the Medical Director/Chief Executive Officer, GH Ikorodu, Dr Taiwo Hassan, has identified that upgrading of major General Hospitals across the state to the status of Teaching Hospitals, will help in addressing the challenges of migration of health professionals abroad, and their shortage in the system.
“Nigeria is going to be good now. It is going to be good this year. 2024 is our year and we don’t need to ‘Japa’ (run to foreign countries to seek greener pasture). We all need to salvage it. We are marketable which is why we go there and excel and they are purchasing us”, the royal father said.
“There is value on all our doctors and nurses that are going out of the country for greener pastures. They place value on us. They are buying them over. If we are paying them better in Nigeria, there will be no need for them to go.
“We are (human) materials and that’s why we have many good hands. I am appealing to them to be patient and that things are going to get better. We have trained them, so we should give them tools to work with, and what they want too.
“The President has promised them not to lose their values and that things will get better”, Oba said.
Dr Taiwo Hassan, MD/CEO, GH Ikorodu, charged government to declare a state of emergency in the health sector due to the challenges caused by doctors and other health professionals’ migration abroad for greener pastures.
“We have challenges and the major challenge is the migration of doctors and health professionals in general. Government must declare emergency in the health sector in this respect.
“They must try to do things that would make health professionals stay back. Retention of health professionals is very key to this present government”.
As a way out of the situation, Dr Hassan said that there is a need to expand major health facilities to produce more doctors and nurses.
“We have always advised that General Hospital, Ikorodu, and other major hospitals should be upgraded to Teaching Hospitals, so that they can produce more doctors”, he said.
“When we have more doctors, the rate at which they move abroad will not affect us, because we will be able to produce more for the international governments and for our needs for our internal practice.
“There will be a time that they will be returning the country with their experiences”, he said while expressing his optimism over the return of the doctors in Diaspora back to Nigeria.
