CMD advocates better remuneration for Health workers
…says this will address brain drain in the sector
By Tom Okpe
Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Prof Wasiu Adeyemo, has urged better remuneration for Health workers in the country saying it will address problem of brain drain in the health sector.
Adeyemo, made the call while attending the 2024 and 2025 budget defense and proposals, at the House of Representatives Committee on Health Care Institution, at the National Assembly on Monday, along with Heads of Federal Medical Centres and Universities Teaching Hospitals across the country, before the Committee, led by Patrick Umoh.
He lamented depletion of the Health sector workers in the country who leave for abroad, in search of better lives saying; “Nigerian hospitals may become empty, if nothing is done to urgently address the situation.”
Adeyemo said “The major reason people are leaving is for economic reasons. We have a lot of issues. Resignations everyday. In the next one or two years, if care is not taken, all the hospitals would be empty.
“We need to do something about the remuneration of our Health workers. The Government is putting a lot of money into infrastructure, but the hospitals are empty. “
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In his presentations, Chief Medical Director, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Prof Emem Bassey, said they had to return the sum of N1, 056, 034, 392.80 because of the staff that left the hospital in search of greener pastures abroad, pointing that sum, left over from the 2024 budget was meant for their salaries.
He said, “For the performance for 2024 capital appropriation, we had a total of 20, 617, 154,692.56, broken down into personnel N12,874,350, 949.56. Total overhead was N240,186,681.00, which actually came to about N20 million monthly, overhead.
He said for the first time, since he became CMD, they had 99.99% release of overhead.
“Now, for the capital, we had N7,502,617,062, of which only N884 million has been released. And I would expand a little bit more to say that last year there was an intervention to do some radio diagnostic centers in about six hospitals, one in each geopolitical zone and we were lucky to be among those centres. But these are beyond both the parastatal and the ministerial tender’s board approval limit threshold.
“So they have to go to the FEC, Federal Executive Council. Unfortunately, all the centres who have benefited, their memos are still yet to be presented at the Federal Executive Council. We are hoping that will be done within this month so the implementation can start.
“That’s the challenge that we are having. And also, like other people have mentioned, we are still yet to have the releases for October and November 2024,” adding that the 2025 total personnel projection is N19,932,823,941.
Also at the session were the CMD University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan Professor Jesse Abiodun Otegbayo and the Acting Chief Medical Director of the University Teaching Hospital, Ila Orangun, Osun State, Prof Kola Musliudin Owonikoko.
Chairman of the Committee, Rep Umoh, stressed the need for fiscal responsibility to ensure a better country for all Nigerians, expressed commitment of the Committee in ensuring that funds, disbursed, are properly utilized for the benefit of all.
The Committee however, resolved to collect
correspondences and submissions from the outstanding teaching hospitals for the Secretariat to work on, since it could not attend to all on the institutions, same day.
