…Gov Gives Approval For Immediate Replacements
By Wole Adedeji
The migration of medical personnel in their droves abroad for greener pastures and low renumeration of personnel in the health sector in the country is now taking its tolls on the Kwara State health sector with the migration in droves of the personnel to foreign lands.
To arrest a palpable effects that could attend sector in the state, the governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, had given approvals for the automatic replacement of medical doctors, nurses and other paramedics that had exited health facilities in search of greener pastures abroad.
Executive Secretary of the state Hospital Management Board, KSHMB, Dr AbdulRaheem Malik, made this known while featuring on a programne; ‘Media Parliament,’ a current affairs event organised by the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ.
Themed: ‘Managing Brain Drain and Other Health Sector’s Challenges: Kwara State Government Approach,’ the speaker, a renowned pharmacist, asserted that the essence of the governor’s approvals was to bridge the gap that might arise following the exodus of medical doctors and other related personnel in the nation’s health centres in pursuit of appreciable wages abroad, which today is called ‘Japa’ in the local parlance.
The hospital management board scribe noted that the state government is recruiting medical staff to fill the existing vacancies so as to ensure that more doctors and others are available to attend to patients in public hospitals.
He said, “His Excellency has approved for us to replace one on one. So, if a doctor resigns or leaves today, we have the automatic approval of the governor to replace that person. There is a one on one replacement already in place. And we are currently recruiting doctors, nurses and pharmacists.
“So, the periodic recruitment is already ongoing. It is not even periodic. It is like when somebody leaves, you replace so we can close the gap as often as possible.”
