The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi has said that the shortage of manpower due to mass migration has led to a deficit of 30,000 medical professionals.
Abayomi pointed out that the trend of health professionals fleeing for greener pastures abroad has imposed a negative effect on the health sector in terms of availability of manpower.
The health commissioner stated this on Thursday, June 13, at the Lagos State University College of Medicine induction ceremony for its 18th set of graduating medical doctors and 8th set of graduating dental surgeons.
He appealed to the inductees to specialise in various fields and contribute to improving the health sector in Nigeria.
He said: “We have to start something and start from this graduation. There is a shortage of about 30,000 medical professionals in Lagos.
“I know many of you would like to ‘japa’ (relocate abroad). We have a lot of Nigerians in the diaspora. You have the freedom of choice to ‘Japa’ out of Nigeria, but what we would like to see is a set of professionals that have the opportunity to ‘Japa’ and still have an impact on the ground.
“And even better, those of you who choose to go abroad to expand your capabilities, you can make a deliberate decision to come back to Nigeria.”