…..UK, Saudi Arabia benefit from July, August, September exit
The Vice President II Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors Dr Kefas Wida-James, says with migration of Specialists to foreign countries only General Practitioners may remain due to their low demand.
PERISCOPE NIGERIA reports that no fewer than 10 doctors migrate in search of greener pastures annually from Gombe Federal Teaching Hospital.
Wida-James who doubles as President of FTH Gombe ARD, in an interview with our correspondent disclosed that Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom are great beneficiaries especially around July, August and September.
The ARD National Vice President II said, “The number is overwhelming, the unfortunate part of it is that you could be with someone today and by evening when you call him his number is will not go through meaning he has gone.
“The Japa movement is seasonal usually it’s to United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, there is usually a timeframe that they usually do recruitment usually between July, August and September is their peak period.”
On the number of persons involved annually, “the Teaching Hospital is one facility and State Specialist is also another when you put them together at an average per annum we lose about 10 doctors every year. This year alone we have lost 10 from Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe alone to the Japa movement.”
Speaking on the impact of the movement on FTH Gombe, Wida-James commended the FTH Chief Medical Director Dr Yusuf Abdullahi, for employing to reduce the effect of the absence.
“The management is actually trying by engaging ad-hoc staff by providing locum employment to fill up the spaces. In the last three years management pursued and got waiver to get clearance for doctors and other health workers. I must commend the CMD but you know these are not things that he (Abdullahi) has control over because renumeration is not controlled by him it’s a general Federal Government responsibility so you discover they are marking time while they conclude preparations for their exit.
“If you replace you will see people leave and create same space. Within six months same vacuum is created again. It cuts across all departments, you will discover that skills are developed overtime, when you lose somebody on the cadre of Senior Registrar, even if you replace him, and you may not replace him with Senior Registrar, before a Registrar will climb to his level of expertise it takes a lot of time, minimum of three years. You realise that at the level of Senior Registrar he is about to qualify as a Fellow or Consultant, so there is always that gap of specialists because of medical round circle that we have. At Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe we have not reached the stage of closing departments but the effect is glaring as I explained earlier you have a department that ideally should have five consultants or maybe three senior registrars or 10 but they now work with half of the number. The department will not be shutdown but the optimum service that a patient is supposed to have he may not have,” Wida-James added.
He raised fear that with how events are panning out only general practitioners may remain in the country following its lack of demand, adding “those that will be left will be general practitioners. Specialists are what foreign countries are after no one is after general practitioners so they concentrate their search on specialists especially areas in surgery, opthalmology, ENT.”
