MDCAN urges NASS to jettison bill, improve working conditions
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Federal lawmakers have been urged by the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) to jettison the bill seeking mandatory five-year service to the country before medical and dental graduates can be issued licences.
MDCAN said instead, both the National Assembly (NASS) and the government should devise a full scale health workforce and retainment plan to discourage the brain drain in the health sector.
MDCAN President Victor Makanjuola made the argument in Jalingo in a communique issued at the end of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the association.
He knocked the bill as ill-timed and unnecessary when Abuja is supposed to invest more in medical training institutions to increase the number of medical and dental graduates to bridge the manpower gaps in healthcare delivery.
“The House of Representatives as matter of national interest and importance should throw away in its entirety, the bills seeking to bond fresh medical and dental graduates for five years before they are licensed, as this obnoxious and inhumane bill has the potential of worsening the ongoing massive brain drain in the health and medical education sectors,” Makanjuola insisted.
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Need for constructive engagement
“Our association will be willing to be part of any constructive engagements towards genuine efforts at stemming the tides of the ongoing brain drain in the health and medical education sectors of our economy,” Makanjuola added, per Vanguard.
“Stakeholders should devise possible means to increase the number of medical and dental doctors graduating from medical schools while improving their practice competencies.
“This should be in addition to increasing the number and quality of the medical teachers in the country.”
Makanjuola urged the government to raise the salary of public health workers across the country and also raise their retirement age in the interest of the nation.
“MDCAN insists on the upward review of CONMESS for all doctors in line with the increment of salaries made for other civil servants, without further delay.
“Substantive increase in retirement age remains one of the best ways to buffer the already dwindling numbers of health workers in Nigeria.
“There is need for the appropriate organ of government to circularise and implement this policy immediately, in the interest of the Nigerian populace who are at the receiving end of the effects of the massive brain drain in the health sector.”
Makanjuola said existing policies that are beneficial to Nigerians, like the National Health Insurance Act (NHIA) passed by the NASS, should be fully implemented to increase easy access to quality and affordable health services.
He also urged the Abia government to offset the salary shortfalls of clinical lecturers and medical personnel in the state.