Brain Drain: FG prohibits Medical Workers From Taking Time Off And Boosts The Number Of Nurses Hired To 120,000

Restrictions on leave of absence have been placed in place by the federal government for healthcare workers who wish to relocate abroad.

The executive order issued by President Bola Tinubu to address the issue of brain drain in the country's health sector due to Japanese syndrome was followed by the ban on leaves of absence for health workers, according to Dr. Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Health, who made this announcement on Saturday, March 9.

Speaking in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Dr. Alausa also disclosed that the federal government has started an aggressive recruitment drive in the health sector, resulting in a 28,000-nurse yearly enrolment that will rise to 68,000 by the end of the year.

Read: Why Other Countries Hire Doctors and Nurses from Nigeria — Pate

He stated that President Bola Tinubu believed that the people were the nation's greatest asset and that he had not only promised but also actively worked to ensure that the health sector was in good shape so that the people's health would not suffer as a result.

“The government is not unmindful of the Japa effect on our manpower in the health sector and the President has ordered for massive production of manpower such that when people go, there will always be a replacement.

“It is against this background that we are working intensely on the enrollment of our nurses, what used to be 28,000 is now 68,000 and we intend to take it to 120,000 by the end of the year, so there will always be abundant skilled manpower to take over from those leaving the job.”

“We have equally doubled our enrollment for Doctors, Dentistry, and Pharmacists among others Again, we didn't say anyone who wants to move or japa to the UK or Australia to take up appointments there should not go, it is a free world.

“However you cannot eat your cake and have it, if you are going, just resign your appointments with the federal government, rather than applying for leave of absence, that is the Presidential executive order which has been communicated to all the Chief Medical Directors of Federal Government owned health facilities to implement.

“The problem with the leave of absence is that such a fellow is out there in the UK or Australia working, making money but his name still appears on the payment roll of the government and so to replace him is difficult because he is still being considered as a staff whereas he has left the country.

“So, to solve this problem, the President has directed that any health workers going abroad to work should just resign their appointment and not apply for leave of absence, this way, you won't be blocking others who want to work and of course piling burdens for your colleagues that you left behind,” he said.