By GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

BENIN— FORMER National Secretary of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, AGPMPN, Dr. Marcus Eruaga has urged the Federal Government to step up capacity building efforts  for doctors in the country as a way of stemming the exodus of medical practitioners from the country to seek greener pastures abroad.

He said: “My advice is that government should put in place the necessary infrastructure for Nigerian doctors to practice their profession in the country. And instead of Nigerians going abroad for medical care, those doctors already plying their trade here should be encouraged to come home and establish, bringing their expertise into the healthcare delivery system of the country.”

“Again, a lot of the medical tourism you talk about has to do with the issue of capacity building. We need to build the capacity of Nigerian doctors; we need to give grants to medical doctors who are here to do research and establish themselves.

“We have the brains, the intelligence and whatever you can think of, but the wherewithal, the materials to use are simply not available and where they are available, they are very scanty.”

That is why you see medical tourism, (people travelling) out of this country,” he said.
Dr. Eruaga who spoke with Vanguard in an interview in Benin shortly after the launching of his book, ‘Orthodox Private Medical Practice in Nigeria: – the role of the AGPMPN in Benin. Describing exodus of qualified medical practitioners from the country as an aberration, Eruaga said that every country tries to be sufficient, hence, “you do not see people from the developing countries leaving their countries to go to other countries to seek medical care.”

He however attributed the dilapidation of infrastructure and general apathy towards the development of medical services in the country as responsible for the so-called medical tourism; insisting that “what we should be looking out for now is to make Nigeria self-sufficient in terms of medical care delivery services”.

Dr. Eruaga noted that Nigeria was one the countries with qualified medical doctors, saying that
Chairman of the occasion and Chief Judge of Edo State, Justice Cromwell Idahosa in his speech said that he was always tickled whenever there was a book launch as somebody had burnt the mid night oil to put down his ideas for others to read and benefit from.

While commending the author, he said the book will throw more light into the evolution of medical practice in the country and the roles played by the early “black doctors” in the profession.