Chief Medical Director, Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital Lafia, Dr Hassan Ikrama has said the hospital has lost 22 medical doctors in the last five months to brain drain. He said the doctors left for Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and some within the country.
He stated this at the hospital during the award ceremony to reward members of staff of the hospital who worked hard during the COVID-19 and Lassa fever outbreak in the state as a source of encouragement.
He said: “One of the main challenges facing the hospital now is brain drain. It used to be the brain drain that we hear in other places, but we are at the theatre of war, DASH has lost in the five months 22 medical doctors who left for Saudi Arabia and the UK while some left for other areas within the country.
“So, everybody is stretched; but we are moving on and will continue to offer the services. Lucky enough, we have already gotten the approval for the replacement of those people that have left,” he said.
He said despite the challenges of the brain drain, the hospital has made a lot of progress by getting accreditation in five departments from just one when he took over three years ago. “We have been able to also get six consultants in the last two exams and a lot of progress has been made in the area of research with 15 papers presented so far.”
About 51 medical personnel were rewarded while three medical doctors who lost their lives were given posthumous awards. They are Dr Was Ochapa Ogah, Dr Victor Mbanefo Nwatu and Nurse Ibrahim Oshafu.
The Chief Medical Director said those honoured recorded unprecedented success in handling COVID-19 cases in the hospital.
He said there is the need to reward frontline workers who sacrificed themselves even when the scourge was seen to be complicated, especially the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ikrama stressed that the COVID-19 isolation centre team worked diligently and tirelessly round the clock to fight the spread of the virus and treat those infected.
He explained that 2019 and 2020 were trying times for health workers globally as the virus ravaged the world.
“The management of COVID-19 cases in DASH was superb and we received commendations from many places, including from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, on how we handled the cases,” Ikrama added.
The Chairman of the award committee, Dr Agbawu Mek-Agbawu, said the selection process was based on merit. He urged other members of staff of the hospital to step up their duties so as to be part of the next edition of the award presentation.