By Isa Isawade
The National Association of University Students (NAUS) has expressed deep concern over the alarming rate at which Nigerian doctors and health workers are fleeing the country due to poor working conditions, meagre salaries, decayed infrastructure, economic inflation and worsening insecurity.
NAUS noted that what is now called “Japa Syndrome” has gone beyond brain drain and is fast becoming a national health emergency, with over 15,000 doctors leaving in the last three years, leading Nigeria to a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1 to 10,000 against the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard of 1 to 600.
The association expressed the concern in a press released signed by its Deputy National President, Comrade Joseph Olamilekan, and forwarded to PM NEWS on Thursday.
“NAUS frowns at this ugly trend because its effect is most felt by students and youths. University health centres across the country are now mere consulting rooms without doctors, drugs or ambulances, leading to preventable deaths of students from treatable ailments.
“There are less than 300 psychiatrists for over 220 million Nigerians, exposing youths to unmanaged mental health crises, while female students face high risks due to lack of gynaecologists, and medical students themselves now study only to leave the country.
“Consequently, NAUS calls on all health agencies at the federal level the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, National Universities Commission (NUC), Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Federal Ministry of Education and the National Assembly Committees on Health to urgently intervene.
“We demand an emergency salary review for health workers, total revamping and equipping of university teaching hospitals, a functional student health insurance scheme (TISHIP), and improved security and incentives for doctors to stay.
“If nothing is done, Nigeria risks becoming a nation of 220 million people with no one to treat them, and Nigerian students will remain the worst victims,” the release said.
