Una don hear this one? Our Federal Government, bless their souls, just unveiled something they're calling the 'Diaspora Health Impact Initiative 2026'. The plan na to 'engage over 50,000 diaspora doctors and healthcare professionals' to 'strengthen' our health sector. Hmm.
E be like say every time something hard show face, our leaders just dey look outside, abi? When our own doctors dey japa like say tomorrow no dey, because the system no favour them, no good pay, no proper equipment, na now we wan 'engage' the ones wey don run commot? Make una no vex o, but this thing just dey vex me.
Instead of making our hospitals fine, giving our resident doctors good salaries and conducive environments, making sure we get steady light and water for our medical facilities, we wan go beg the ones wey don see better life to come 'strengthen' us. Wetin come happen to the ones wey still dey here, suffering and smiling? Are they not good enough? Or are we just admitting that our system has failed them so spectacularly that we need external 'resuscitation'?
I just dey wonder, what exactly does 'engage' mean here?
- Are they coming back permanently?
- Are we paying them foreign exchange?
- Are they just coming for short stints, like medical tourism for our government?
Because if we cannot retain the ones we train with our own resources, the ones who understand our context and our challenges from birth, how we go retain these 50,000 'diaspora professionals'? Na magic? Or are we just setting ourselves up for another round of 'brain drain' once their 'engagement' period finish? This thing just no balance for my head.
E nor go better make we fix the root cause of the japa syndrome first? Make our hospitals become places where doctors want to work, not just places they have to work. Make our health sector truly indigenous and self-sufficient, instead of always looking for foreign solutions to local problems. Because as it is, this 'initiative' just sounds like putting plaster on a gushing wound. What una think?