Japa: Osun Opts For Retirees As Doctors, Nurses Leave For Overseas Jobs

The Osun State Commissioner for Health, Jola Akintola says the state government plans to engage retired doctors to make up for the scarcity of doctors.

He said this in Osogbo yesterday during the ministry’s budget defence at the House of Assembly. The commissioner, who said the state is facing a dearth of doctors, added that “the majority have left the country”.

Akintola said: “We intend to recruit retired doctors who are not tried to fill the needed number of doctors in our health facilities. “We are planning to engage retired doctors because many of them have travelled abroad for greener pastures.”

He explained that when engaged, the retired doctors would bring on board their wealth of experience to impact the lives of the Nigerians and offer good healthcare to the people.

He said the ministry had earlier been given the goahead to employ more staff but the issue of the new minimum wage, which was just settled in the state, delayed the recruitment process.

The UniOsun Teaching Hospital Chief Medical Director, Afolabi Babatunde while also defending the budget of the hospital, stressed the importance of having more medical staff.