The Medical Director of Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun state, Prof. Musa Olomu has cited poor salaries and lack of incentives as major push for the exodus of doctors and other medical personnel from Nigeria to developed countries.
Olomu said despite the government's efforts to boost the healthcare sector by increasing medical school admissions and building healthcare infrastructure, the doctor, more needs to be done to retain medical talent.
The outgoing Medical Director, who disclosed this while giving the account of his stewardship in a Press conference, organised at the premises of the centre on Thursday, argued that Nigerian doctors are capable of performing complex surgeries, such as cancer removal, which is often associated with better-equipped hospitals abroad.
Olomu equally stated the disparity in salaries, noting that "these doctors earn around N700,000 to N800,000 per month, which he said is insufficient to take care of their families, especially those with children abroad.
The professor emphasised that Nigerian doctors are not underperforming, but rather, they are not being paid well.
Olomu said "They are increasing admission into medical schools, building pharmacies, laboratory technology, those things are increasing, not that they are reducing the numbers of doctors, relocating to US, UK and Europe. let them also give us the incentives that we deserve.
“Give us the salaries that we deserve as the colonial masters were doing in those days when they treated us as number two immediately after the Director General then doctors will stay. You can imagine in this hospital, my doctors separated cancer from the nerves, from the bones and the patient lived again.
“What are they doing in the US, what are they doing in the UK? It was here at FMC that cancer was removed. What is the salary of those doctors, around 700,000 and 800,000? What are they going to do with that and you say they shouldn't go to where they will be paid 10 million per month so that they will be able to take care of their wives and children”, he added.
Professor Olomu, reflecting on his eight-year tenure as Medical Director, mentioned several achievements that have transformed the facility.
Under his leadership, he said, the hospital has been upgraded to a world-class standard, with the procurement of modern equipment and the recruitment of a large number of qualified medical and non-medical staff.
Notably, Olomu said, his stewardship has also paved the way for the establishment of a Medical University in Abeokuta, a development he said promises to further boost the region's healthcare landscape."
