The Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), has suggested specialized training and increased funding of residency training to curtail the challenges of brain drain in health sector in the country.
The umbrella body of medical doctors in the country which gave the hint during a courtesy call to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, in Abuja, Monday, said it was worried at the rate at which medical doctors and other practitioners in the sector were leaving the country in droves after undergoing specialist training in different fields of medicine.
While addressing the speaker on behalf of the NARD, its president, Dr Emeka Orji, said there was the “need for appropriate budgeting and funding for the health sector to ease the provision of equipment and hospital consumables as well as workers’ welfare
“There is the need for adequate funding of residency training in Nigeria. This highlights the importance of restoring the overseas exchange programme for doctors in specialist training.
“We believe firmly that this would help reduce the push by Nigerian doctors to relocate abroad. The 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund also comes to mind.
“It is important to appreciate that resident doctors in Nigeria are working under pressure, and there is the need to put mechanisms in place to speedily resolve issues that affect their welfare, rather than wait for things to degenerate to the level of industrial disharmony,” he said.