“These Are Result of the ‘Japa’ Syndrome”: Reps Cry Out as LUTH Shuts Down 5 Wards
- No fewer than five wards with about 150 beds have been shut down at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba
- The chairman of the Committee on Health, Dr Amos Magaji, who disclosed this said the closure is due to a shortage of health workers.
- According to Magaji, the sad development is a result of the alarming rate of migration of health workers
Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over 5-year-experience covering metro and government policy
Idi-Araba, Lagos state - The shortage of health workers has resulted in the shutting down of five wards with about 150 beds at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba.
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Health, Dr Amos Magaji, said the institution is under threat as a result of brain drain, The Punch reported.
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Magaji stated that many health workers, especially nurses and doctors, had left LUTH in search of greener pastures.
The federal lawmaker stated while speaking with newsmen shortly after an oversight visit to the teaching hospital, Vanguard reported.
He described the alarming rate of migration of health workers as a national embarrassment to the country.
“The japa syndrome will be curtailed by building state-of-the-art infrastructure and making the sector attractive and rewarding to workers irrespective of their fields.”
Magaji, however, gave an encouraging development when he said steps were being taken to halt the massive exodus of health professionals abroad.
“We saw significant problems here. Right now, there are about five wards in LUTH, totalling about 150 beds that have been shut down because there are no nurses and doctors to work in those wards. And these are a result of the ‘Japa’ syndrome we are having.
“As a committee, we will work together with the Federal Government and also with the teaching hospital to find a way out of these national embarrassments that have befallen this country.
He added:
“So, by the grace of God, some of the issues of the ‘japa’, we are actually looking at how to solve this problem, starting even from the enrollment in universities, and then how house officers are employed, and then of course, the residency programme.”
Doctor slumps, dies after allegedly working 72 hours in LUTH
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that a house officer, Dr Umoh Michael, slumped and died in church after allegedly working for 72 hours in the Neurosurgery Unit of the LUTH.
Medical doctors under the aegis of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), LUTH chapter, disclosed this in a letter written to the Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Prof Wasiu Lanre Adeyemo.
Michael allegedly died on September 17 after he returned home from work at about 3:00 a.m.
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Source: Legit.ng
