The Niger Commissioner for Health, Dr Muhammed Makusidi, has said that the migration of many workers from the state health sector created a gap of almost 3,000 in human resources.

He said this in an interview with journalists shortly after the 2023 budget defence of the ministry with the state House of Assembly Committee on Health in Minna on Thursday.

Mr Makusidi said that though the migration of medical personnel was a national issue and not peculiar to the state alone, it had lost many young workers to international countries.

“A situation where we have 15 to 20 doctors before, now, we have seven of them and this has reduced efficiency,” he said.

Many Nigerian health workers are relocating abroad for better service condition, a phenomenon now known as Japa syndrome.

The commissioner pointed out that migration of health workers was as a result of career progression, noting that the state government approved and implemented 100 per cent salaries for workers.

He also said that insecurity was one reason for the migration of health workers as some health facilities were attacked by armed bandits and some workers abducted.

According to him, the state lost many of its health workers due to activities of banditry and many workers do not want to stay in red alert areas.

He said that the state government had approved the recruitment of workers into the state civil service, giving priority to the health sector.

The commissioner, however, said that the 2022 budget performance was 44.8 per cent which was very high because the majority of the ministry activities in 2022 were COVID-19 related.

He added that the 2023 budget projection for capital projects was N4.8 billion which was higher than the 2021 allocation of N720 million. 

(NAN)