Members of the Joint Health Sector Unions Assembly (JOHESU/AHPA) of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA) have voiced concerns that more health workers may leave Nigeria next year in search of better opportunities.
The workers have also issued a threat to engage in industrial action if the federal government proceeds to halt budgetary allocations to professional regulatory councils.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, the union cautioned, “If this phenomenon is not managed, we estimate that over 25 percent of the practitioners in Nigeria will join the exodus for greener pasture abroad.’’
The union is demanding a directive to the Budget Office to immediately cease attempts to cut off budgetary allocations to all professional regulatory councils in the health sector to prevent endorsing the calls by members to withdraw their services as a means of pressing their demands.
The letter, signed by the acting national secretary of JOHESU, Comrade Matthew Ajorutu, claimed that the Budget Office’s directive initially affected all professional regulatory councils, including the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), which regulates medical and dental practice in Nigeria.
Ajorutu noted, “The directive of the Budget Office initially affected all these Professional Regulatory Councils, including the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN). But in moves typical of some MDAs in the country, only the MDCN has been cleared to continue to enjoy government funding as proposed in the budget of N11 billion in the 2023 estimates.”
He warned of the ‘imminent consequences that will confront consumers of health in Nigeria if the minister does not rescind the retrogressive and damaging directive of the Budget Office.
The consequences, he said, would make practitioners of the different professional cadres more vulnerable to unlawful and unethical practices.