Comments made recently by the Association of Resident Doctors in Nigeria (NARD) in a seeming explanation for the huge migration of doctors outside the country have been further backed by a Public Health Chief.
Dr. Alero Roberts, Vice Chair, Association of Public Health Physicians (Lagos Chapter) is of the opinion that Nigeria lacks the basics of operating a functional health system.
In conversation with Mary-Ann Duke Okon on Whaats Up Lagos, she revealed why the perception of public health in the country, especially by the government needs to change.
She said, "For you to have a health system that works, you need manpower, materials, and money; you cannot have any two out of three.
"Last time I wept at the door of the Accident and Emergency Unit when a young doctor said to me, 'Ma, what am I standing here for? If a patient comes in, I know what to do but I don't have the wherewithal to do it.
"What do you say to such a person?", she lamented.
Recall that NARD also warned recently that 4,000 of its members had so far indicated interest to leave the country.
This according to the medical body is in addition to the 2,000 doctors the country had lost to the outside world in the last two years.
However, does the buck stop at the feet of the government alone?
Simply put, "the politics of it is beyond us," answered Dr. Alero.
"The health care sector has always been populated by people whose main objective in life is to help others; you do not go into it to make money."
She explains further in the video. Click to watch.
