- During his official visit to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Alausa engaged with the hospital’s management and staff
- He described the shortage of human resources in healthcare as a global crisis and revealed plans to expand the healthcare workforce and increase the number of nurses produced by the hospital
To address the challenges posed by brain drain within the healthcare sector, Dr. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Health for the State, announced on Wednesday in Lagos that the government will boost the enrollment of medical doctors and nurses in the upcoming academic year.
Dr. Alausa expressed concern over the rising cases of substance abuse and also reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s dedication to combatting drug abuse and enhancing mental health services throughout the nation.
During his official visit to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba, Lagos, Dr. Alausa engaged with the hospital’s management and staff.
He described the shortage of human resources in healthcare as a global crisis and revealed plans to expand the healthcare workforce and increase the number of nurses produced by the hospital.
He emphasized that while the government won’t prevent individuals from leaving the country, efforts are underway to rapidly improve the healthcare system in Nigeria.
“We are working day and night to fix it. In the next 12 to 24 months, the country will start getting better. I have met with the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, in the next academic year; we will double the enrolment of doctors from 5,000 to 10,000.
“I also met with the registrar, of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, in the past two to three years, they started increasing the number of nurses to about 6,000 but with the kind of population we have, I have mandated them to make plans within the next 12 to 24 months to increase our production to 50,000 and 80,000 nurses annually.”
Alausa who identified substance/drug abuse as a menace that had eaten deep into the society and a major causative factor of mental illness in Nigeria said the government will support the hospital to expand its substance abuse delivery capacity so that they could build more wards for substance abuse services.
“Substance abuse is a huge problem in society now, and if we don’t tackle it very quickly; it will create a bigger problem in the future. This hospital is well-positioned to help reduce these impending future problems by increasing the level of awareness, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of patients who have substance abuse issues.
“But by what I am seeing on the ground; I am very impressed. Presently, they already have about 60 beds ward for substance abuse patients. But we will also have to help them to expand the facility so that they can double this, build more wards and expand its substance abuse service capacity,” he said.
Speaking on the challenges listed by the hospital’s Medical Director, he said they would find a way to address them except for the provision of funds for the welfare of pauper/indigent patients.
“This is a Federal hospital specifically designed to provide healthcare for indigent citizens. So, the hospital should be able to care for the indigent patients probably from its internally generated revenue.”