Doctors on the run: Over 661 Doctors Resigned and Relocate Abroad – UCH CMD

Prof. Jesse Otegbayo. Photo: UCH, Ibadan

The Chief Medical Director of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Professor Jesse Otegbayo, has disclosed that about 661 clinical workers resigned their roles from 2020 till October 15, 2022, to relocate to other countries, a situation which has been taking its toll on the running of the hospital.

He made the lamentation, on Monday, in Ibadan, at a media briefing to mark the 65th founder’s day of the hospital.

Otegbayo said, “Every week, I receive about 15 resignation letters; there are more nurses than doctors and pharmacists. The movement of health workers will continue for a while, I must confess, but the consequences are not going to be good for Nigeria because, in the next five years, we will feel full impart.”

He, however, noted that the Federal Ministry of Health had already instituted committees to look at the retention of health workers.

According to him, the committee of CMDs of tertiary hospitals has also made suggestions on this to different committees, including asking that the government ensures full replacement of staff that left.

Otegbayo said challenges faced by the hospital in providing training, research, and health care services also included the high cost of diesel to incessant electricity supply from the national grid, bureaucratic bottlenecks in replacing existing staffing, and negative perception and high expectations from the public.