The Federal Government has begun the implementation of the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration.
This was exclusively disclosed to The PUNCH by the President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof Bala Audu, who noted that the Federal Government has launched a housing scheme for healthcare workers across the country as part of the implementation of the policy.
In August 2024, President Bola Tinubu approved the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration to address the challenges facing Nigeria’s health human resources.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate, who disclosed the development, noted that the policy was more than just a response to the ongoing exodus of healthcare professionals but a comprehensive strategy to manage, harness, and reverse health worker migration.
Some of the takeaways from the policy are that the Federal and State Governments will develop a special incentive programme for all healthcare workforce serving in rural and underserved areas; the government and relevant ministries, departments and agencies will create modalities for special mortgage facilities for healthcare workers to easily own houses, cars, and other essential assets; and the federal and state ministries of health, in collaboration with the offices of the head of the civil service, the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, will periodically review healthcare workers’ salaries, benefits, pensions, and allowances.
Speaking on the government’s recent actions to curb the health workforce crisis, Prof Audu said, ‘The greatest challenge we have in the health sector at the moment is the paucity of the health workforce as a result of the Japa syndrome, and we know the government has not laid back, it has launched two main solutions to this problem.
‘The first is the policy on health workforce retention policy, which is to improve the welfare of the health workforce so that they can remain behind and not leave this country, and now we are beginning to see the actual implementation of the policy.
‘Amongst them is the creation of what the Federal Government has called Renewed Hope Medical City where healthcare workers -doctors, nurses, and others would have their houses built for them at mortgage price, and they can pay over 20 to 30 years.
‘This is a very new approach to welfare that we have not seen before. Of course, there is a need to improve salary, there’s also a need to look at transportation, and we’re discussing this with the government, and we believe it is an issue that will reach a reasonable agreement.
‘The other aspect of the approach to solving the Japa syndrome is to produce more healthcare providers, and the government has increased the current capacity of our tertiary educational institutions that are responsible for the training of the healthcare workers, including medical doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, radiographers, and others’.
The don noted that though the impact of these interventions will likely take another five years before tangible results are seen, the critical point is that if actions are not taken today, the situation will only deteriorate further.
He emphasised that the positive actions taken by the government showed its foresight, combining both long-term planning and immediate action.
‘That is not to say that everything is perfect, but we are already collating the list of uptakers who will have their houses built’, he added.
The President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr Tope Osundara, also stated that the medical city project was in collaboration with Prof Pate and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa.
‘The Minister of Housing and Urban Development has also given approval for our residency village, and that is what we are currently working on’, Osundara said.
