Lagos: The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has appealed to the Federal and state governments to immediately stop the casualisation of doctors working in public hospitals across the country. NMA’s first Vice-President, Dr. Benjamin Olowojebutu, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Olowojebutu contended that ending the casualisation of doctors would help to check brain drain and restore sanity to the health sector. He stated that all doctors working in public hospitals must be given permanent and pensionable employment after a clearly defined probation period, and temporary contracts must not exceed one year. Casualisation, as noted, involves employing professionals on temporary or contract bases without job security, benefits, or career progression.
Olowojebutu lamented that casualisation had become the norm rather than the exception for medical doctors in Nigeria, particularly in state-owned hospitals and teaching institutions. He highlighted that young doctors are hired as locum or contract staff with no pension, no health insurance, and arbitrarily slashed salaries. These doctors often work under exploitative arrangements for years without hope of confirmation or permanent employment, being treated like expendable tools.
He questioned how a government that claims to value healthcare could allow such conditions to persist, and how a system could demand excellence from doctors while offering them poor conditions in return. According to him, the current reality shows that Nigerian doctors are not valued by their government, with many facing victimisation when they speak up or demand better working conditions. He noted that those who participated in legitimate industrial actions were often blacklisted, with their salaries withheld for months.
In many teaching hospitals, resident doctors are overworked, underpaid, and subjected to the whims of vindictive supervisors. Promotions are politicised, disciplinary actions wielded as weapons, and doctors who push back often face punitive postings or summary dismissals, breeding a climate of fear and oppression. The consequence of this systematic abuse is the mass emigration of Nigerian doctors.
Olowojebutu cited data from NMA showing that over 2,000 doctors leave Nigeria annually, with the UK’s General Medical Council database indicating that over 12,000 Nigerian-trained doctors are currently practicing in the UK. He stressed that this brain drain is a death sentence for millions of Nigerians relying on public hospitals, with entire local governments lacking resident doctors, worsening emergency response times, and increasing mortality rates.
Olowojebutu urged the government to guarantee job security, respect doctors’ rights, and improve remuneration and working conditions to enhance the health sector. He called for investigations and sanctions against heads of institutions that victimise doctors, and the establishment of an independent grievance redress system for medical professionals. Additionally, he advocated for increased budgetary allocation to the health sector and transparent utilisation of funds to boost quality, accessible, and efficient healthcare services for citizens.
