Stakeholders particularly the leadership of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Ekiti State has expressed worry over the recent rate at which medical doctors are exiting their jobs in the state. for greener pastures overseas.
Dr. Babatunde Rosiji who is the NMA Chairman in the state explained that the situation has affected the health system in the state and country drastically, hence the need for urgent steps to arrest it.
Rosiji made this known during a courtesy visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalists at the Old Gov’s Office, NUJ Ekiti State Council on Tuesday. He pointed out that most hospitals in Ekiti now lacked enough hands to attend to patients.
In his words: ‘Doctors in Ekiti state are leaving Nigeria. We are supposed to have 800 doctors in Ekiti state but as of today, we have just 500 doctors. In some hospitals in Ekiti, we have one medical doctor, in the best case scenario, we have two doctors instead of minimum nine doctors.
‘Things are going wrong in the health sector in Ekiti, I hope we won’t get to the point where we will see native doctors in hospitals.’
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Rosiji also lamented the way doctors in Ekiti State were treated, calling on the government to look into the welfare of health workers in the state to enable them carry out their essential duty effectively.
‘Many of our members came down with COVID-19 despite not receiving any COVID-19 hazard allowance like was done in many other climes.
‘You know our work is very sensitive, we are over laboured, overworked and underpaid. The government will deal with us and our patients will also deal with us at the same time.’
He, however, revealed that the union is in a fight against quackery in the medical field in Ekiti State.
The chairman affirms the commitment of NMA to partner government and other relevant agencies and organization in order to deliver optimal health services to the people.