The author
By Chris Kwaja, Ph.D.
Framing the Discourse
The Postgraduate Medical College Fellow’s Association is billed to host its 2024 annual conference in Port Harcourt, September 15th – 21st, 2024, on the theme, “Medical Education, Research and Practice: Pushing the Frontiers Amidst Brain Drain”. In reality, brain drain manifests at two fronts. First, poor working conditions that provides a fertile ground and basis for physicians to look else where in search of greener pastures. Second, the docility and inertia that defines the personal development drive of physicians, which drains them of the vitality needed to contribute to knowledge production and its utilization in clinical practice, research and health systems administration. The reality is that amidst the brain drain syndrome, there are many physicians that have remained committed to contributing their quota in advancing medical studies and practice for the good of the country and humanity.
The politics of health provisioning is a multifaceted issue that intersects with various dimensions of public policy, economics, and social justice. There is a sense in which governmental decisions regarding healthcare funding reflect broader political priorities that often marginalize vulnerable populations, and the health practitioners. This disparity highlights the importance of advocating for health policies that prioritize the needs of all citizens, particularly those in underserved communities, as well as the welfare of the health practitioners.
The neglect of the health sector in Nigeria by various governments has emerged as a critical concern, exacerbating health disparities and undermining socio-economic development across the country. Despite series of commitments to improve healthcare access, many government still allocate insufficient resources to the health systems. Furthermore, government neglect often manifests through ineffective policy implementation and lack of accountability. For instance, funds earmarked for health initiatives are frequently mismanaged or diverted elsewhere by government officials – (some ministries, departments, agencies, legislature, and heads of health institutions). This underinvestment results in inadequate infrastructure, a shortage of healthcare professionals, and limited access to essential medicines, which explains the spate of brain drain and ‘japa syndrome’.
Nigeria’s Health Minister, Prof Pate
Confronting Achilles Heel in Healthcare Provisioning
Brain drain in Africa is a multifaceted phenomenon characterized by the emigration of skilled professionals to more developed countries. One significant cause of this exodus is the lack of opportunities for career advancement within African nations. Many highly educated individuals find themselves in environments that do not value their skill sets, or provide adequate resources for professional growth, prompting them to seek better prospects abroad. In addition, some Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) and Medical Directors (MDs) of hospitals also constitute major enablers of brain drain due to the quality of leadership they provide – nepotism, corruption that manifests in the form of complicity with contractors to supply sub-standards equipment, collusion within contractors, conflict of interests that are linked to the practice of diverting patients to their own facilities, at the expense of the public institutions they were appointed to transform; complicity with some members of the legislature in budget padding and the misapplication of constituency projects among others. These are the Achilles heel we grapple with!
Conclusion
The 2024 annual scientific conference should provide our physicians an opportunity to take stock of the state of affairs, in terms of what has been done, how it’s been done, the gaps, successes and opportunities for building a country that can effectively respond to the heath care needs of its citizens, while investing and optimizing the productive capacities of our physicians. For those who japa, because the country is down, they will someday look back and see a new Nigeria that is built on the sacrifices of those who remain to salvage the country. May this conference be one where the ills highlighted above will be frontally reviewed towards the greatest happiness of the greatest number of Nigerians.
The author is an Associate Professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies, Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. He is also a Global Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Brown University, United States
