The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has said increasing the retirement age of health workers from 60 to 65 will address the problem of brain drain, popularly known as “Japa” in the health sector.
Benjamin Olowojebutu, the first vice president of NMA said this when he and some members of the association paid a visit to the member representing Agege federal constituency, Lagos State, Hon. Wale Ahmed, in his office at the National Assembly Complex, in Abuja.
This was as he called for speedy passage of the Bill to increase the retirement age of health workers in the country from 60 to 65 and also increase the maximum pensionable years of service from 35 to 40.
The Bill is titled: “A bill for an act to make provisions for the retirement age increment for health workers in Nigeria and for related matters.”
“We are here to say a big thank you to our colleague and a member of the House of Representatives, Honorable Doctor, Wale Ahmed, for championing this important bill in the quest for healthcare delivery in this country. This is a way to reverse medical Japa and medical retirement.
“One of the things we realize is that a lot of our doctors have experience, and when they exit after retirement those who replace them are younger colleagues that still need experience.
“So one of the things to do is to increase their age so that there are more experiences for those younger doctors to learn from when they retire.
“So we’re glad that we’ve come to see him today, and he has shown a lot more commitment to expedite the bill to become law in this country. And I can assure you, it will improve the morale of doctors in this country.
“It will increase the capacity of training. It will improve the experience of our younger colleagues going forward. So we’re grateful to God, and we thank him for all he has done. We’re praying that God gives him more strength and more wisdom and also gives him good health in making this dream come through for Nigerian doctors now and beyond.
“We want to appeal to the leadership of the House to look at this bill as a comprehensive bill that will aid healthcare delivery in this country that will support the livelihood of medical doctors that have served this country for a long time, and the passion we have put into this country.
“A lot of our friends have left the country, but some of us are still very dogged and passionate about staying in the country because we are patriotic. We have a lot of passion for the health care of this nation, so we appeal to the leadership of the House to help us expedite this bill and let us enjoy the passion and the commitment we are giving to the Nigerian population,” he said.
President of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, Mohammed Aminu Mohammed, said the bill improves health care service delivery in the country.
“Proposing this bill that has passed the second reading to increase the retirement age of healthcare workers to 65 is a worthy bill that needs urgent attention.
“I plead to the leadership of the National Assembly, especially the Federal House of Representatives, the speaker and his able lieutenants to facilitate, to give this bill the urgency it deserves, just like the way they are given the national budget the urgency it deserves because it is going to touch the life of the masses from the cradle. That means, from when they were born to the oldest person in Nigeria.
“We discovered that, as it affects our members, which is the apex of the medical profession, we have just a little over 6000 consultants in Nigeria. In a study that we conducted this year, we found out that about one-quarter of this number has replaced those country have left this country in the last five years.
“To make this bill more relevant, we also found out that one, 1/3 that is 33.3% of all consultants that we have in Nigeria are already 55 years and above which means in the next five years, this number 1/3 is going to retire if nothing is done to this bill.
“So pray that the National Assembly will view it as a point of national importance to pass this bill with all the urgency to which it deserves.
“The passage of the bill is going to prolong the service years of the most experienced health care professionals in Nigeria. That is by no means going to improve the quality of health care in Nigeria and reduce the bad or the poor health indices that we have in this country because the most experience is going to remain in service so that they can impact their experiences.
“They can impact the knowledge they gather over time. They can also continue to train others who will now become doctors. So they are not going to be doctors and healthcare workers alone, but they are going to come up right from the beginning with the wealth of experience that they have extracted from the people who have had their years of service extended.
“With this, it is going to go a long way in making sure that we have a better health care service. We have well-motivated healthcare providers so that collectively, it can impact positively on the healthcare delivery in Nigeria,” he said.
A representative of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Dr Izuagba Kelechi Udoka, lauded the lawmaker for his efforts in pushing the bill.
“I believe with this, it will entice some of the people who have travelled out to come back and then be part of this force to move medical services and delivery,” she said.