The First Vice President of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr Benjamin Olowojebutu expressed optimism that increasing the retirement age of health workers from 60 to 65 will address the problem of brain drain, popularly known as ‘japa’.
Olowojebutu also called for speedy passage of the Bill to increase the retirement age of health workers in the country from 60 to 65 and also increase the maximum pensionable years of service from 35 to 40.
He stated this when he and some members of NMA paid a visit to the member representing Agege Federal Constituency, Lagos State, Hon Wale Ahmed, in his office at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja to express appreciation for sponsoring the Bill.
“We are here to say a big thank you to our colleague and a member of the House of Representatives, Wale Ahmed, for championing this important bill in the quest for healthcare delivery in this country. This is a way to reverse medical japa and medical retirement.
“One of the things we realize is that a lot of our doctors have experiences, and when they exit after retirement those that replace them are younger colleagues that still need experience.
“So one of the things to do is to increase their age so that there are more experiences for those younger doctors to learn from when they retire.
“So we’re glad that we’ve come to see him today, and he has shown a lot more commitment to expedite the bill to become law in this country. And I can assure you, it will improve the morale of doctors in this country.
“It will increase the capacity of training. It will improve the experience of our younger colleagues going forward. So we’re grateful to God, and we thank him for all he has done. We’re praying that God gives him more strength and more wisdom and also gives him good health in making this dream come through for Nigerian doctors now and beyond.
“We want to appeal to the leadership of the House to look at this bill as a comprehensive bill that will aid healthcare delivery in this country, that will support the livelihood of medical doctors that have served this country for a long time, and the passion we have put into this country.
“A lot of our friends have left the country, but some of us are still very dogged and passionate about staying in the country because we are patriotic. We have a lot of passion for the health care of this nation, so we appeal to the leadership of the House to help us expedite this bill and let us enjoy the passion and the commitment we are giving to the Nigerian population.
“I have said it that you know that it’s not very easy, but we appeal that if you can improve it even to 70 because the professors in education universities have 70 years as retirement age and Judges too,” Olowojebutu said.
President of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Professor Mohammed Mohammed, said the bill will improve healthcare service delivery in the country.
“Proposing this bill that has passed the second reading to increase the retirement age of healthcare workers to 65 is a worthy bill that needs urgent attention.
“I plead to the leadership of the National Assembly, especially the Federal House of Representatives, the speaker and his able lieutenants to facilitate, to give this bill the urgency it deserves, just like the way they are given the national budget the urgency it deserves because it is going to touch the life of the masses from the cradle. That means, from when they were born to the oldest person in Nigeria.
“We discovered that, as it affects our members, which is the apex of the medical profession, we have just a little over 6,000 consultants in Nigeria. In a study that we conducted this year, we found out that about one-quarter of this number has replaced those country has left this country in the last five years.
“To make this bill more relevant, we also found out that one, one-third that is 33.3% of all Consultants that we have in Nigeria are already 55 years and above which means in the next five years, this number one-third is going to retire if nothing is done to this bill.
“So pray that the National Assembly will view it as a point of national importance to pass this bill with all the urgency to which it deserves.
“The passage of the bill is going to prolong the service years of the most experienced health care professionals in Nigeria. That is in no means going to improve the quality of health care in Nigeria and reduce the bad or the poor health indices that we have in this country because the most experience is going to remain in service so that they can impact their experiences.
“They can impact the knowledge they gather over time. They can also continue to train others that will now become doctors. So they are not going to be doctors and healthcare workers alone, but they are going to come up right from the beginning with the wealth of experience that they have extracted from the people who have had their years of service extended.
“With this, it is going to go a long way in making sure that we have a better health care service. We have well-motivated healthcare providers so that collectively, it can impact positively on the healthcare delivery in Nigeria,” he said.
A representative of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Dr. Izuagba Kelechi Udoka, lauded the lawmaker for his efforts in pushing the bill.
“I believe with this, it will entice some of the people who have travelled out to come back and then be part of this force to move medical services and delivery,” she said.
In his response, Wale Ahmed said he was only doing his job as a legislator.
He said his primary motive was representing all the people of Nigeria and improving the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria.
“It also translates to the fact that doctors will be able to stay doctors and other healthcare professionals will be able to stay longer in service to pass on the experience to younger people and to maintain the required number of staff, which had never been enough at any time not to talk of, is now being depleted by migration and by retirement at the age of 60.
“So, I was only doing my job and serving the people of Nigeria, but I’m happy it came to light. I want to thank the leadership of the House and all my colleagues for allowing it to scale through the second reading, and I’m using this opportunity to make a commitment that I will work as assiduously to make sure action is expedited on the passage of the bill,” he said.
Recall that the Nigerian House of Representatives on Thursday, 31st October, passed for the second reading a bill extending the retirement age for health workers in Nigeria from 60 to 65 years.
The proposed bill when becomes law would also increase the maximum pensionable years of service from 35 to 40.
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