Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has urged health institutions in Nigeria to embrace modern medical practices as part of efforts to curb the rising brain drain in the country’s health sector.
Speaking in Yenagoa on Friday during a visit by the Ministerial Monitoring Committee of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) High-Impact Intervention in Medical Sciences, Diri said Nigeria’s medical system remained largely traditional and required urgent transformation.
The governor, represented by his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, stressed the need for the integration of biomedical engineering and emergency medicine into medical training and practice. According to him, such innovations, coupled with improved infrastructure, would help retain highly skilled professionals who are increasingly leaving the country for better opportunities abroad.
He assured that his administration would continue to channel resources into health and education to improve living standards in the state, while also commending the Federal Ministry of Education and TETFund for their intervention projects at Bayelsa Medical University.
“We should start looking at modern trends in medicine because Nigeria is still very traditional in practice. Biomedical engineering, for instance, is an area the country urgently needs to explore,” Diri said.
Earlier, the leader of the monitoring team, Prof. Saad Ahmed, explained that the Federal Government’s high-impact project for revitalising medical schools was designed to address the steady migration of health workers. He said funds had been allocated to 18 medical schools nationwide to strengthen infrastructure and equipment in medicine, dentistry, nursing sciences, and pharmacy.
