Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on leaders at all levels to offer better support to medical professionals in order to stop their growing departure from the country. He made this call during the official opening of the Yeriman Bakura Specialist Hospital in Zamfara State on Tuesday.
Obasanjo shared his deep concern about how trained doctors and healthcare workers continue to leave Nigeria in search of better working conditions abroad, a trend commonly known as ‘Japa’. He said this ongoing situation is making the country’s healthcare system weaker.
He noted that while building new hospitals and upgrading medical facilities are important, they are not enough to solve the real problems. According to him, the country must also focus on human resources and take steps to make healthcare workers feel valued and supported.
“For hospitals, especially when many Nigerians who have been trained as medical personnel are ‘japa-ing’, which is going out of the country, looking for better conditions, how do you hold them here? You have to give them a bit of incentive,” he said.
Obasanjo also pointed out that modern machines and clean buildings will not work without enough skilled doctors and nurses. He noted that a good health system needs proper facilities, but more importantly, it needs people who can run those systems well.
“We need all the personnel that we can have because our hospitals have to deliver. You need the right environment and that is the refurbishing, renovation but you need the right equipment, and then you need the personnel,” Obasanjo added.
His remarks come at a time when more Nigerian medical professionals are leaving the country. Reports show that the National Hospital in Abuja lost 500 workers last year alone, mainly due to migration. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) also warned earlier that this movement is linked to higher rates of child and mother deaths in the country.
