To tackle the impact of brain drain in the health sector, the Minister of Health for State, Dr Tunji Alausa on Wednesday in Lagos disclosed that the government will be increasing the enrolments of medical doctors and nurses in the next academic year.
He said the government will not stop anyone leaving the country but plans are on to fix the country’s healthcare system in the shortest period. Alausa who identified substance/drug abuse as a menace that had eaten deep into the society and a major causative factor of mental illness in Nigeria said the government will support the hospital to expand its substance abuse delivery capacity so that they could build more wards for substance abuse services.
“This is a Federal hospital specifically designed to provide healthcare for indigent citizens. So, the hospital should be able to care for the indigent patients probably from its internally generated revenue.” “We are planning to employ retired nurses and young graduates from our school of nursing on locum appointment, pending the time when approval would be given for our request for a waiver for recruitment but lack of funds.”
Owoeye who raised the increasing cases of substance use disorders in the hospital, said the 60-bed space capacity can no longer accommodate patients needing admission into drug wards of the facility.