Dr. Abba Innocent, President, Association of Resident Doctors on Monday said medical professionals working in Nigeria and haven’t relocated are doing so because of the passion they have for saving lives.
Speaking on Channels Television, Innocent lamented that nothing has been done to secure the release of the 20 medical students of the University of Maiduguri and the University of Jos, who were kidnapped in Benue State while travelling to Enugu last Thursday.
He said the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun said helicopters and drones have been deployed to the site of the kidnapping in Benue but nothing is on ground.
According to him, if the 20 medical students are eventually released, they may not be motivated to work in Nigeria due to the harrowing experience they had with the kidnappers.
“We currently have a lot of pressure on healthcare system in Nigeria with deteriorating Healthcare system. Before now, we were battling with the Japa syndrome of doctors who are traveling abroad to seek for better remuneration, better welfare and better security. But now, we now currently have issues of rising kidnapping of doctors”.
“This is going to put a lot of pressure on the healthcare system. No doctor will currently want to go to the primary health centre and this is where rural dwellers have access to healthcare. Incidentally, it is the den of kidnappers. Once you are working in the primary or secondary healthcare system, you get kidnapped”.
“Whatever remuneration we are talking about, you pay huge money for ransom. The current issue of the kidnapping of the 20 medical students, again, this case was reported. It happened Thursday 15th of August 2023. It was reported and up till now, nothing has been done to secure their release. We read in the news where the IGP said security personnel, helicopters and drones have been mobilised to the rescue of the students. We have not seen any drones or helicopters”.
“We are talking about 20 potential doctors that have been in captivity for the past four days. Now, if these people graduate to become doctors, do you think they will want to work in the shores of this country? Do you think they will have confidence to be able to discharge their duties?”
” Any doctor you see that is currently working in Nigeria is out of passion and patriotism because of what we hear in terms of reward, facilities, social welfare, opportunities for professional retraining for our counterparts abroad. So if you notice all these kind of situation, it makes us lose confidence to be able to stay back. It makes us lose confidence to be able to attend to our patients”.
