All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Senator Rilwan Akanbi has urged resident doctors and other health workers to support Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in 2023 for a better welfare package and a conducive working environment.
He told reporters in Abuja that a robust health sector would reduce the high rate of medical tourism among Nigerians.
Akanbi is a former chairman of Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA), an association of past students of the University College Ibadan/University of Ibadan registered for any undergraduate or postgraduate course in the Faculty of Medicine/College of Medicine, dedicated to stemming brain drain in the health sector.
He said there were justifiable expectations by the citizens that democracy should engender better access to public goods such as education, health, roads and security.
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Akanbi said the notion of state legitimacy rested on the capacity of the state and its agents to provide public goods in sufficient quantity and quality.
“Whenever the state fails to meet citizens’ expectation in fulfilling this overriding obligation, it chips away at its legitimacy and authority such that citizens’ loyalty shifts away from the state to non-state sources of public goods, be it individual or group. It is therefore not surprising that most states that fail to meet citizens’ expectation and demand for public goods often struggle to maintain effective authority, stability and peace.
“The phenomenon of brain drain in Nigeria’s health system resulting in the paradox of the so-called medical tourism, the impact of brain drain and apparent lack of effective strategy to arrest and reverse the trend is patently palpable.
“Brain drain literally refers to the emigration in large number of highly trained professionals from a particular country. Although there is dearth of accurate data on the extent of brain drain in Nigeria’s health sector, it is incontrovertible that the phenomenon of brain drain in Nigeria’s health sector is a monumental threat to the overriding goal of universal health coverage,” he said.