18th April, 2023
By Ifeanyi Olannye
Nigeria has the capacity to export medical officers to needy nations if available potentials are adequately harnessed and planned.
Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa stated this while inaugurating the Collegiate System in the State’s Schools of Nursing at the College of Nursing, Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of the state.
Rather than contemplate restricting medical practitioners from moving out of the country, more of them could be trained, and from the pool, enough would remain in the country while some could be exported to needy nations, Okowa opined.
“Nigeria can leverage the massive demand for medical professionals trained in the country by signing bilateral agreements with foreign nations to train and export more of the professionals to those countries.
He frowned at the prevailing development where medical professionals no longer empathised with humanity, saying that it had become commonplace and unethical.
Okowa urged all medical workers to adhere to the ethics of their professions by ensuring that they put in their best to render assistance to patients by showing them love at all times.
However, he noted that Nigeria had the challenge of nurses, midwives and doctors exiting the country, and pointed out that the situation had begun to trouble the healthcare system in the country.
“I think that as a nation if we know where our strength lies, we can do things that can enable us to improve on where our strength lies.
“There is nothing wrong if there is a planned programme by Nigeria to train many more nurses than we need, and we enter into a bilateral relationship with other countries to export some of our nurses, midwives and doctors.
“I am not one of those that will come out to say that we are trying to make laws to stop or restrict the movement of medical personnel out of the country.
“What we need to do is to ensure that there is a planned programme by Nigeria to truly train more than our daily and yearly need and ensure that we are able to enter into strategic alliances with other countries,” he said.
He commended the Ministry of Health and the management of Schools of Nursing in the state for their efforts at upgrading the institutions to the collegiate system.
According to him, such a system could enhance the training of more nurses and other medical workers.
“I believe that the college system that is starting in Delta will encourage this and I hope that we have people who are able to encourage and support you to do this.
“I believe that we have the capacity to train a lot more nurses than we need at the moment; it just requires a little more resource and focus,” he said.
Okowa also appreciated the Central Bank of Nigeria for supporting the state government to upscale some facilities in the college in Agbor.
“I also want to thank the Registrar of Nursing and Midwifery Council for promising to see how they can further upscale the number of students in the school.
“I can see that the students are very excited because beyond becoming nurses and midwives, they now have the opportunity of having a Higher National Diploma (HND) in nursing services,” he said.
NAN