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The Lagos State Government has unveiled a “brain gain” strategy to address the shortage of healthcare professionals and reverse the Japa trend.
The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, disclosed this in a post on X on Monday.
Abayomi said Nigeria faces a critical shortage of healthcare workers across all cadres, driven by emigration, historical underproduction and population growth.
“While others discuss brain drain, Lagos State is implementing a Brain Gain strategy: expanding local training and reforming healthcare financing to align demand and supply with global economic realities and international standards,” the commissioner stated.
According to him, the strategy will slow emigration and attract skilled healthcare talent back home, a move he described as ‘Japada’.
Abayomi said the State House of Assembly has passed the bill to transmute the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM) into a standalone University of Medicine and Health Sciences (LASUMAH) now awaiting the governor’s assent.
He explained that the new university will scale annual health student intake, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and laboratory scientists, from 500 to 3,000 over five years.
The commissioner added that demand-side financing reforms aim to narrow the gap between the Lagos and international healthcare markets, reducing the pull of Japa, while cross-subsidies strengthen safety nets for the vulnerable.
He said the state is also optimising its health facilities by preparing its 30 General Hospitals, over 300 Primary Health Centres and 10 Maternal and Child Centres for clinical training, with training hubs, student accommodation and logistics across the IBILE zones of Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos Island and Epe.
Abayomi disclosed that Phase 1 of a state-wide infrastructure audit identified three sites for immediate transformation: the former COVID-19 isolation centre at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba; the Gbagada General Hospital Cardio Renal Centre; and the main LASUCOM campus.
He said Phase 1 has now come to life, with the former CACOVID isolation unit at IDH, Yaba, fully retrofitted under the supervision of the Lagos State Infrastructure Asset Management Agency (LASIAMA) and handed over to LASUCOM as the new home of its Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The facility, according to him, adds 315 state-of-the-art laboratory workstations, 520 lecture hall seats and 169 seminar seats across six departments.
“What once isolated the sick will now train generations of pharmacists to keep our communities healthy,” Abayomi said.
