Lagos development area offers its doctors a 100% pay rise to stem incessant emigration

IKOYI-Obalende Local Council Development Area of Lagos State has approved a 100% pay rose for doctors in its service in a desperate bid to stop the incessant development of them emigrating abroad in search of better living standards.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic, Nigeria has had a serious problem on its hands with regards to health professionals as the high rate at which doctors and nurses began emigrating became alarming. In the UK for instance, the British General Medical Council (GMC), which licenses and maintains the official register of medical practitioners and recent statistics showed that at least three Nigerian doctors were licensed per day in April and May 2021.

This trend has continued over the last two years as desperate health authorities in the UK have had to look abroad for healthcare professionals. Nigeria, with a population of over 200m citizens, currently has one doctor to the over 5,000 citizens, which is way below the current World Health Organisation recommendation of one doctor to 600 citizens.

Looking to stem the tidal flow, Councillor Fuad Atanda-Lawal, the chairman of the Ikoyi- Obalende Local Council Development Area, approved the rise after extensive deliberations on the need to ensure that all residents had access to comprehensive, quality and affordable health care. Medical doctors attached to all the primary health centres in the council area will benefit from the rise.

According to Councillor Atanda-Lawal, the decision follows the need to address the brain drain currently experienced in the nation’s health sector, a trend commonly known as japa. He reiterated his belief that Nigeria was blessed with doctors who could compete with their peers globally if given the necessary incentives.

Councillor Atanda-Lawal, said: “This is coming on the heels of the commencement of the construction of a state-of-the-art primary health centre that will cater for a larger number of people in the community. I want to reiterate the council’s commitment to supporting the efforts of our esteemed President Bola Tinubu and Governor Babajide Sanwoolu in delivering quality and affordable health care to all citizens.

“We believe that by investing in our health care professionals, we are taking a step towards achieving this goal.” He added that the pay rise will take effect from this month.

In January, Dr Eniayewun Ademuyiwa, the permanent secretary in the Lagos State Health Service Commission lamented that government-owned hospitals were becoming overstretched due to the mass emigration of health workers abroad for greener pastures. He revealed that the acute shortage of manpower in some of the federal facilities had increased the number of patients being admitted to state hospitals across Lagos.

Last year, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors said no fewer than 1,417 of their members relocated abroad in search of greener pastures. Apart from the UK, other popular destinations for Nigeria-trained doctors include the US, Canada, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Australia.