Our Reporters Some Nigerian-born doctors based in the United States of America, United Kingdom and Canada have stated conditions that will encourage them to consider returning to the country. Reacting to the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration aimed at wooing an estimated 12,400 Nigerian-trained doctors practising abroad, the medical practitioners said they would return if the Federal Government addressed insecurity and offered a competitive welfare package. President Bola Tinubu had on Monday approved the policy to address the continued exodus of Nigerian doctors abroad.
The policy provides some incentives to retain Nigerian doctors at home and encourage those outside the country to return. Among the proposed packages is the provision of soft loans/grants to returned migrant health workers interested in establishing private health facilities. However, some of the doctors, in separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH, said Nigeria needed more than a national policy on health workforce migration to revive its deteriorating medical sector.
The aggregate of the doctors’ demands centered on security, a good salary, provision of infrastructure, and a better economy. A medical doctor in the United States, Fikayo Benson, said he and his colleagues overseas would return home if the government could offer attractive remuneration and address insecurity. Benson said, “I believe that Nigerian doctors practising abroad would be open to returning home if the government can guaran.