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Mmesomachi Ruth Ezebenard
Resolved to curb the steady increase in the exodus of medical practitioners who are in search of greener pastures, the Managing Director of Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, has launched a mentoring programme for young doctors in Nigeria.
Ajayi, who has practised as an obstetrician and gynaecologist for more than three decades, has expressed worry over how the trend was crippling the country’s health sector.
He announced that the scheme would be run in partnership with Nordica Foundation, as a way of giving back to the society. He said that he couldn’t have done otherwise because he also benefited from mentorship under his teachers and senior colleagues.
He revealed that he would have left Nigeria immediately he graduated from medical school to practise abroad, but for his mentor at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, who advised him to have a rethink.
He said that the initiative was aimed at retaining and guiding physicians in the formative years of their careers, as well as providing a forum for experienced doctors to share knowledge that might inspire them to remain in Nigeria.
Ajayi, who described the ratio of doctors to patients in Nigeria as ridiculous, said that any country where its graduates are leaving in droves is a bad omen that needed to be tackled.
He said that the mentoring programme was designed and targeted at enhancing the career growth of young physicians and improving transformative leadership in the medical profession. He, however, clarified that mentors would not superimpose a decision not to travel on the clinicians, but to open up the available options to them.
“We want young professionals to understand that there is a future here in this country. Despite our own challenges, Nigeria has many comparative advantages. I am not against anybody travelling to Canada, United States or anywhere else, but just discover who you are. Don’t leave because everybody is relocating. There are challenges everywhere in the world. There are some doctors who left Nigeria but ended up becoming bakers abroad. Sometimes these young ones need someone who can give them those words of wisdom that will help to develop and discover who they are,” he said.
He explained that for doctors to have a successful balance life, they need other people from other professions who have excelled in their careers.
In her contribution, a professor of Obstetrics and gynaecology, Bomi Ogedengbe re-echoed Ajayi’s position that there is a great need for mentorship. Describing brain drain in Nigeria’s health sector as a crisis, she explained that she was involved in accreditations of medical institutions in the country and that there were constant complaints regarding how doctors were leaving the country.
She believed that the initiative could stem the tide, pointing out that most of the young physicians leave Nigeria out of frustration. She said that the young professionals need empathy. She commended Ajayi for the scheme.
“We want them to have a holistic approach to life. The calibres of the mentors will help identify individuals need and support them,” she said.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Risk Analyst Insurance Brokers Limited, Lagos, Funmi Babington-Ashaye, said that mentoring would help individuals to achieve their goals.
“You need mentoring for a different purpose and it is important not to walk alone because this mentor will help you review, set goals and achieve it both in short and long term. Most times mentors are successful because they have knowledge and have passed through those phases, so you are not walking alone because they want you to succeed more than them,” she said.
Other mentors, who are part of the programme are: Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun; Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Sade Ogunsola; Dean, Faculty of Clinical Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe; Industrialist and Investment expert, Chief Nike Akande; and Director General of Advanced Legal Studies, Abuja, Prof. Adedeji Adekunle.
