By Salam Saheed
The Right Aid Health Foundation has urged the Federal Government to urgently improve the welfare, remuneration and working conditions of healthcare professionals to stem the growing migration of medical personnel from Nigeria.
The founder of the foundation, Professor Oyebola Olubodun Adekola, made the call at the organisation’s 10th anniversary celebration in Lagos, warning that the continued exodus of healthcare workers was worsening the country’s health sector crisis.
Adekola, a professor of anaesthesia and critical care, said the “Japa syndrome” had depleted the nation’s pool of skilled medical professionals, leaving many Nigerians, particularly the less privileged, struggling to access essential healthcare and surgical services.
She urged the Federal Government to provide competitive salaries and improved welfare packages capable of encouraging trained healthcare workers to remain in the country and serve the population.
According to her, more than 3,000 patients have benefited from the foundation’s free medical and surgical interventions over the past decade.
She disclosed that the foundation provides interventions for conditions including cataracts, pterygium, fibroids, goitre, inguinal and femoral hernias, umbilical hernia, appendicitis, lipoma, breast lumps, breast cancer and prostate enlargement.
Adekola also appealed for increased government, corporate and philanthropic support, saying many indigent Nigerians were still waiting for potentially life-changing surgical interventions they could not afford.
She said the foundation hoped to expand its operations beyond Lagos and establish independent medical facilities to reach more underserved communities across Nigeria.
“God has been our driving force. In the next 10 years, we want to reach the unreachable beyond Lagos and across Nigeria,” she said.
She also urged Nigerians with the means to support humanitarian medical initiatives, stressing that sustainable partnerships were essential to expanding access to quality