The outgoing Medical Director of the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Prof. Adewale Musa-Olomu, says unless the government provides incentives and commensurate salaries to the medical personnel they will continue to migrate from the country.
He admitted that the government has increased admission quotas for medical students and is building healthcare infrastructure nationwide, but insisted that it requires incentives and good pay to retain the medical talents.
Musa-Olomu said this in Abeokuta on Thursday while speaking with newsmen as he winds down his eight years sojourn as the MD of the hospital.
The MD lamented the declining ratio of doctors to patients in the country due to the ‘japa’ syndrome in the medical sector.
Musa-Olomu emphasised that Nigerian doctors were not underperforming, rather, they are not well paid.
“They (government) 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.
“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 N700,000 and N800,000? What are they going to do with that and you say they shouldn’t go to where they will be paid N10 million per month so that they will be able to take care of their wives and children”, he said.
He noted that President Bola Tinubu cherished the health of the citizens and had done a lot to improve the sector since assumption of office.
He disclosed that the President specifically directed members of the National Assembly not to remove from the budget of the health tertiary institutions during the budget preparation.
“I want to commend President Bola Tinubu . The renewed Hope Agenda is superb , excellent, he has invested so much in the health sector,” the MD said.
Speaking on his achievements in office, Musa-Olomu 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.
Reeling out some of his achievements, he explained that the hospital performed more than 40 per cent of Open Heart Surgeries in Nigeria.
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