Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the 2023 Lagos governorship candidate for Labour Party, has advised the Nigerian government not to use force to stop the massive brain drain witnessed in the country.
Rhodes-Vivour, 40, a Nigerian architect and activist, noted that brain drain is a global problem and not peculiar to the country.
He, however, suggested ways in which those in authority can tackle the issue.
He wrote on Twitter:
‘’Two things a government should not outsource are education and health care.
‘’Brain drain in health care delivery will not be solved using force or policy. Nigeria is not alone in this struggle. With our population and medic/citizen ratio, we must think out of the box.
‘’It will require very creative and innovative solutions because throwing money at the problem won’t solve it.
‘’Technology (A.I), and system engineering optimized at the ward level e.g. emergency services, data-based service delivery, and preventative medicine, will take on a significant role.
‘’How we view healthcare delivery, recruit and train support staff in this new dynamic must also change. With an emphasis on support staff using technology to make proper diagnostics, with focused training on empathy, customer engagement, diagnostic tests, and data gathering.
‘’This way, we lean on doctors for mainly treatments and pay them extremely well whilst building a robust, intelligent data-driven healthcare system.’’
He added that it would be a shame if the country is left behind again to play catch up on three consecutive revolutions across the globe.
Recall that bill seeking to curb brain drain by mandating Nigerian medical doctors to practice for at least five years in the country before going abroad passed for second reading in the House of Representatives recently.
Meanwhile, in 2019, the minister of labour and employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said doctors who feel they want to relocate in search of greener pastures are free to do so as the nation has enough medical personnel.