The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has spoken out against the proposed five-year mandatory service requirement for medical and dental practitioners.
Concerned about the vast exodus of healthcare workers leaving Nigeria for brighter pastures overseas, the bill‘s sponsor, Honourable Ganiyu Johnson (APC/Lagos), stated that it intends to alter the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act 2004, in order to address brain drain in the Nigerian health sector.
The NMA President, Dr. Ojinma Uche, stated on a Channels TV broadcast on Wednesday that the law is not the solution to the nation’s looming healthcare issue.
He encouraged the Federal Government to address the fundamental cause of the problem by prioritizing medical practitioners’ wellbeing and addressing the security challenges that they face.
He also bemoaned the fact that some doctors have been kidnapped and robbed, as well as the inadequate pay they receive.
“That is not the solution. You will discourage young medical students from reading Medicine. My own fear now is that it may have spooked the doctors that will be planning to leave in a year to start leaving immediately, before they are clamped down.
“If you now decide that Nigerian doctors cannot have full or permanent licence for five years after graduation, automatically, you have made them house officers for five years.”
If implemented, the bill would require medical and dental practitioners trained in the country to work for at least five years before being granted a full license.
