The amendment of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, aimed at stopping the migration of Nigerian-trained medical professionals, passed second reading in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The amendment, which has generated a lot of controversy, was sponsored by Ganiyu Johnson (APC, Lagos), following the mass exodus of medical practitioners in the country – resulting in brain-drain in the health sector. The amendment seeks to mandate medical professionals trained in Nigeria to work in the country for five years before they could be fully granted their practicing license.
While the majority of the House supported the bill, which they said would make quality healthcare available in Nigeria, some lawmakers opposed it.
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Abia PDP lawmaker, Uzoma Abonta, said the bill would infringe the rights of doctors to move freely. Benue LP House member, Mark Gbillah, who was among the few lawmakers to oppose the bill, said the issue that needs to be tackled is brain-drain, not restricting the fundamental rights of Nigerian medical professionals.
“I want to suggest that we look at how to rework this bill in itself because as a professional myself I do not think you should be able to practice anything without your license,” he said.
“A person in such a critical field as medicine, how would you give somebody a temporary license or what would that imply? You would need a license to be certified to practice. So the issue we are trying to cure is brain drain.”
Gbillah added that what is needed is to apportion more resources to the medical profession, instead of attempting to pass a bill that will infringe the fundamental human rights of the health practitioners.
Johnson had defended the bill, saying that it was only fair for medical practitioners, who enjoyed taxpayer subsidies on their training, to “give back to the society.”
The bill was passed for second reading after the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila sided with Johnson and others. He said the proposed bill was not infringing the rights of medical practitioners because section 45 of the 1999 Constitution allows the government to suspend certain rights due to certain conditions.
“Let me clear the issue of fundamental human rights that has been raised… If you go to section 45(1) of the Constitution, it actually allows you to deviate from your fundamental human rights under certain conditions.
“One of these conditions concerns public health. So if the government feels that to safeguard public health this restriction should be put then we have not violated anybody’s human rights,” he said and put the bill to vote.
However, the bill has received backlash from a throng of Nigerian medical professionals supported by others. They said the House should have focused on improving training of medical students, upgrading of government hospitals and better welfare of doctors, which have fueled the culture of strike in the Nigerian health sector.
“A dumb proposal imho. You can’t force patriotism if the leaders don’t put the country first. What this bill would do is encourage people to seek medical degrees outside the country,” a medical practitioner wrote on Twitter. “A better proposal would be one that prevents government officials from seeking medical treatments outside the country.”
Brain-drain has taken the center of discussions in Nigeria recently due to the mass exodus of professionals to developed countries in search of better working conditions. But in this crisis, the health sector appears to be the most-affected, with doctors, pharmacists, and nurses leaving the country in high numbers.
Nigeria is said to be left with one doctor to 5,000 patients against the recommendation of at least one doctor for not more than 600 patients by the World Health Organization.
This shortage is notably buoyed by the growing number of medical practitioners leaving the country yearly. A survey conducted by the Nigerian Polling Organization (NOIPolls) in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch, in 2017, revealed that about 88 percent of medical doctors in Nigeria were looking for opportunities to work abroad.
In 2021 in Abuja, more than 500 Nigerian doctors turned up at a one-day recruitment program the Saudi health ministry organized to pick Nigerian doctors for work in Saudi Arabia.
Also, a 2022 UK immigration report showed that 13,609 Nigerian healthcare workers were granted working visas in 2021, significantly compounding the country’s meager healthcare workforce.
Against this backdrop, the House of Representatives had been expected to address the fundamental issues forcing the medical practitioners out of the country, instead of seeking a legislative shortcut to the challenge.