The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Health Service Commission, Dr Eniayewun Ademuyiwa, has lamented that government-owned hospitals are becoming overstretched due to the mass emigration of health workers abroad for greener pastures, in what is commonly called japa.
He revealed that the acute shortage of manpower in some of the federal facilities had increased the number of patients being admitted to state hospitals across Lagos.
Last year, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors said no fewer than 1,417 of their members relocated abroad in search of greener pastures.
In November, the House of Representatives Committee on Health revealed that the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba had shut down no fewer than five wards with about 150 beds, due to a shortage of health workers, resulting from doctors’ exodus.
Speaking at a strategic leadership and financial management retreat for healthcare executives held on Thursday in Lekki, Lagos, the permanent secretary expressed concerns that health care providers kept leaving the system despite several government initiatives to equip and train them.
He stressed that hospitals still struggled to provide top-notch services to patients even after many of its younger workforce had left the country for greener pastures.
He noted, “We have to adapt to the situation of things presently because many of the things we do, many of the strategies we deployed in our hospitals, we have a lot of them fast decaying.
“You put something in place to solve a problem, and before you know it, you come back and that something is no longer working. Or some other measures like you have trained 10 people, before you know it only two are left. And what they are supposed to do, it is as if you have not done anything. You have to start all over again, that is the situation we found ourselves in because of the mass migration of doctors.
“Despite all these, the volume of patients we see in our hospitals seems to be getting more and more. Sometimes, you wonder how; the patients keep coming, why? Is it that we are doing something good or is it that they don’t have a choice?
“Before now, we used to say some of our hospitals are not doing this specialty or another, but now is different. Presently, we have a situation to suppress the demand.”
While charging the health care executives to be proactive in dealing with patients, Ademuyiwa said not less than 180 medical doctors in general hospitals across the state were been trained on the importance of quality service delivery in the health sector.
He urged hospital managers to put in place resilience processes and solve problems without leaving any weak link.
“When I say resilience processes, you must do the right thing, give the best, and solve problems without leaving any weak link anywhere. So, it is the way of doing things.
“The hospitals must be prepared at all times 24/7. There are times when some things happen in your hospital and you will say you will fix it tomorrow, you should fix it immediately. Don’t wait till tomorrow because you may find yourself embarrassed if you don’t fix it immediately.”
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the event, the Chairman Health Service Commission, Dr. Atinuke Onayiga, said the retreat was a way to build more capacity for the health workers in the state, especially the healthcare executives.