The brain drain in the health sector has begun to tell negatively on the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jalingo, Taraba State. This was observed at the weekend when the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr. Aisha Adamu, raised the alarm over the shortage of personnel, especially doctors.
Adamu, who spoke with newsmen in Jalingo, also identified scarcity of funds as another major challenge of the hospital. The first female CMD of the hospital admitted the paucity of clinical staff at the facility, noting that the quest for greener pastures caused the shortage.
According to her, the hospital is in dire need of doctors, despite the waiver by the Federal Government for it to employ. The hospital, according to her, needs doctors, especially specialists, for quality care.
Vowing not to be discouraged by the situation, she said the hospital management “is leaving no stone unturned to ensure quality service,” adding: “With the little we have, we are trying. The few doctors in the hospital are carrying so much burden.”
The Guardian gathered that the hospital’s management is appealing to the few doctors working round-the-clock to put smiles on the faces of patients. “We are trying to improve the services of the hospital by providing all the staff need to work,” she said.
Listing the hospital’s plans to carry the hospital’s host community along, she said plans to set up Friends of the Hospital Committee are in place.
“We are yet to settle some of our vendors,” she added. Of the 201 medical doctors operating in both public and private hospitals in the state, The Guardian reports, more than half are practising in FMC Jalingo.
