The Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP) has kicked against the proposal of a five-year compulsory service for doctors within Nigeria as a prerequisite for obtaining a licence.

The association said a national emergency should be declared in the health sector against the proposed compulsory five-year service by the House of Representatives.

In an interview on Monday in Lagos, the national president of the association, Kayode Adesola, said the proposed bill would affect the health sector as it was premised on the wrong notion that such a measure would solve brain drain.

He said the bill’s proponents did not conduct in-depth research on the factors driving the brain drain crisis nor engaged health stakeholders on the implications before moving such a bill.

Mr Adesola said the bill would worsen the brain drain in the country and noted that medical doctors do not need Nigerian licences to practice in other countries.

He lamented that the country’s health sector needed more funding, as health centres were dilapidated with outdated equipment.

“We have teaching hospitals, general hospitals and primary healthcare centres that are dilapidated with outdated equipment.

“Political leaders are seeking medical treatment abroad while the citizens are left to suffer in a country that has one of the best doctors in the world.

“Before, it was the young doctors leaving, but now, the consultants are leaving. Many health workers left because of insecurity, not just poor remuneration or poor working conditions,” he stated.

He also maintained that insecurity affected the health sector and limited practitioners’ ability to deliver services to Nigerians.

Mr Adesola noted that the issue of brain drain was multifaceted and required a more comprehensive approach to tackle it.

He stressed that declaring an emergency in the health sector would assist in proffering sustainable solutions to attrition of health workers, improved healthcare facilities, and reduced disease burden, among others.

On April 6, the House of Representatives on April 6, passed for second reading a bill seeking to mandate Nigerian-trained medical and dental practitioners to practice for a minimum of five years in the country before being granted a full licence.

The bill sponsored by Ganiyu Johnson, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Lagos, said the bill seeks to amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act 2004 to address the brain drain in the Nigerian health sector.

(NAN)