By Damilola Origbemisuyi, Akure
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo (UNIMED), Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, has said that the country can benefit from mass exodus of health professionals if well addressed.
Fatusi noted that there was no way people could be stopped from going outside the country, but if the Nigerian government could put in place some mechanisms, it would immensely benefit from travelling of health professionals.
The vice chancellor lamented that despite the tuition-free programme for medicine students in the federal universities, graduates of medicine would still leave the shores of the country for the benefit of other countries.
“There is no way we can stop people from leaving but you can manage it in a productive way. Today, the highest number of students studying medicine in Nigeria belong to the federal universities, and they are all tuition-free. So they are all on scholarship, indirectly.
“I think that one of the things government could do is to say, you will stay for five years, and if you don’t want to stay for five years, you can buy back your time by paying the tuition fee,” He said.
He also asked Nigeria authorities to increase the rate of training of health professionals so that the rate of inflow of such professionals would be faster than outflow of such.
He added “One of the things that we are proud to do, is that we are producing an increasing number of health personnel. Some will go, but some will still stay.
“On the other hand, you can also manage those that go so that it becomes a major source of income for many years. We can become a country that exports health professionals, and we make money in return to help develop the schools and develop the country.
“I strongly believe that one of the things to do to help mitigate the japa effect is to continue to produce high quality medical professionals, in an increasing number.”
According to him, there should be a mechanism whereby those abroad will be in touch with the country so that they can come back to contribute their quotas.
