The federal government, on Tuesday, January 10, said that it is working on introducing performance-based remuneration for health workers across the country.
The minister of health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, made this known at the 17th edition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard series from 2015 to 2023, The Punch reports.
He noted that the development was necessary to reduce brain drain in the country.
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), in October 2023, said that no fewer than 10,296 Nigeria-trained doctors were currently practising in the United Kingdom (UK).
Also, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) noted that there were only about 10,000 resident doctors left in the country.
The minister, however, said that the exodus of healthcare workers was not peculiar to Nigeria.
Ehanire said that, “This is not really an exodus. The very high workforce mobility of health workers is global.
“Doctors and nurses are moving everywhere. I have had to speak with other ministers, even Ghana, they are losing doctors.
“So, there is high mobility in the health sector workforce globally. Hence, we should not knock ourselves as if we are the only victims on earth,” he added.
According to the minister, the governments in Gambia, the UK, Egypt, and Turkey are also lamenting of migration of healthcare workers to other countries.
Ehanire noted that, “This movement is global and what we are doing about it, first of all, is to do everything we can to improve the condition of service.
“We have improved the hazard allowance, and we are looking at how to improve remuneration.
“We are also looking at how to introduce a better form of performance-based remuneration so that doctors don’t just receive a simple grade-level salary.
“Their payment will according to their work, so we are trying to measure performance in order for health workers to be happy that they have properly been rewarded for what they have done.
“Right now, doctors and nurses don’t feel they are properly rewarded for the work they are doing, and this is not good enough,” he added.
The minister also said that the ministry made submissions to the Health Reform Committee (HRC) on the upward review of the remunerations of doctors.
Ehanire stated that, “What we are also doing is to do conversion of brain drain to brain gain and we are doing that with a new mechanism.
“We want to engage Nigerian doctors and pharmacists in the diaspora and connect them with universities and hospitals because modern technology has made it possible for somebody to be delivering a lecture in New York and listening here in Nigeria.
“I had a conversation with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, and they told us that Nigeria is actually producing about 3,000 doctors every year from our universities, and about 800 doctors trained overseas are returning, and 1,000 is going out.
“So, in reality, there is a net balance, but the employment rate is not commensurate.
“There are many unemployed doctors in the country. Where we suffer is that the consultants are leaving and it takes time to train new people to be able to take their place.
“This is why we want to engage the senior doctors in a better way to give them better opportunities to earn here instead of leaving the country,” he added.
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