The Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has called for urgent implementation of the approved upward review of the retirement age for Medical Doctors and other Health workers as a short term measure to bridge the Brain Drain in the Health Sector.
The president of the association, Dr Victor Makanjuola made the call, while addressing newsmen in Abuja.
Makanjuola in a statement called on the Federal Government and its agencies particularly the National Council on Establishment (NCE), to expedite action on the implementation of the upward review of the retirement age for Medical Doctors and other Health workers.
He noted that the Federal Government through the Honorable
Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, announced the approval of the upward review of the retirement age for Medical Doctors and Other Health workers some months back.
The Association attributed the delay in the implementation of approval to administrative bottleneck and unnecessary bureaucracy.
Makanjuola however appealed to the Government and by extension the NCE to as a matter of urgency give appropriate circular backing for the approval for its immediate implementation.
This he added has become an emergency in view of mass exodus of Consultants and other cadres of Health workers to other countries.
The President also stated that this measure will ensure the Healthcare work force are not further depleted thus hampering service delivery to Nigerian patients.
Furthermore training of fresh graduates and Resident Doctors will be significantly disrupted if these experienced and highly skilled hands are not retained in service.
It will be recall that the Federal Government on May 12, 2021 reached an agreement with stakeholders in the health sector for a new retirement age for health workers.
The new retirement age for health workers was increased from 60 to 65, while that of consultants moved from 65 is 70.
MDCAN is a group medical specialist in different field of medicine and dentistry. Consultants are those practitioners that have the highest qualifications in medical practices.
Their responsibilities includes training medical doctors, offering specialist services to patients and also conducting research in medical fields.
MDCAN has membership in government and non-government hospitals, tertiary and secondary health facilities across the country.