The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has called for a minimum remuneration benchmark for medical doctors to curb the mass migration of health professionals seeking better conditions abroad.

Speaking on Saturday after the 3rd National Health Summit (NHS) and the group’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, the NMA President, Prof. Bala Audu, emphasized the urgent need for standardized pay, improved welfare packages, workplace security, and health insurance to retain doctors and improve health outcomes.

Highlighting disparities in doctors’ pay across states and institutions, the NMA urged the government to ensure fair remuneration while raising concerns about the lack of motivation and mentorship for younger professionals, advocating for an appropriate reward system to sustain the workforce.

He said, “It is a strategy to help Nigeria retain its critical health care workforce and prevent the ongoing ‘japa’ syndrome.

“What it seeks to do is to ensure that every registered doctor who is licensed by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has a minimum remuneration benchmark that you cannot go below, whether the individual is employed in the public sector or in the private sector.

“And even in the public sector, whether the individual is employed by federal, state or local government, and even within those sectors, whether the individual is employed in a primary health sector, hospitals or in other departments and agencies that require the services of a doctor, such as university lecturers, and others such as customs and other security agencies who employ doctors.

“Everyone must comply with that minimum benchmark. It will produce stability, so this is the essence.

“This initiative is also aiming to tackle internal brain drain, where doctors don’t want to serve in local governments, because the pay package is not as good as in state governments, or where some doctors leave state government hospitals to go and work in federal hospitals when they are needed more in the state hospitals.”

The NMA Chief also stated that the Summit underscored the urgent need for an integrated clinical governance mechanism across all health facilities to improve accountability and outcomes.

Addressing policy implementation, the Summit noted the partial and non-enforcement of provisions in the National Health Act (NHA), Audu emphasizing that “Specifically, it advocated for issuing certificates of standards to hospitals as a means to enhance public confidence in healthcare services.