Over 600 health workers resigned in less than two years – UCH CMD

The University College Hospital, Ibadan Oyo State, has said more than 600 of its health workers have resigned their appointments.

The hospital’s chief medical director, Jesse Otegbayo, said this on Monday at a briefing to mark the 65th founder’s day of the UCH.

The CMD said the situation, which he attributed to health workers relocating abroad, has taken a toll on the operations of the hospital.

He said between 2020 and October 2021, more than 600 health workers left the hospital.

He said, “Every week, I receive about 15 resignation letters; there are more nurses than doctors and pharmacists.

“The movement of health workers will continue for a while, I must confess, but the consequences are not going to be good for Nigeria because, in the next five years, we will feel full impact.”

He, however, said the federal ministry of health had already instituted committees to look into the retention of health workers.

In 2015, the then head of service of the federation, Danladi Kifasi, said an embargo had been placed on all federal ministries, departments and agencies to checkmate “indiscriminate employments and promotions” that had bloated the payroll.

Since then, various stakeholders, including the house of representatives, have urged the federal government to lift the embargo and implement strategies to increase labour productivity.

Otegbayo said the committee of CMDs of tertiary hospitals had also made suggestions on this to different committees, including asking that the government ensures full replacement of staff members that have left.

He said the challenges faced by UCH in providing training, research, and healthcare services also included the high cost of diesel, poor power supply, bureaucratic bottlenecks in replacing staff, negative perception, and high expectations from the public.