President Bola Tinubu has granted the Ministry of State for Health a waiver to recruit more health workers than any other sector as part of efforts to address manpower shortages and improve healthcare delivery.

The Minister of State for Health, Iziaq Salako, disclosed this on Friday during a tour of Federal Government health facilities in Ogun State.

Salako also noted that the government is actively engaging with Nigerian health workers in the diaspora to leverage their expertise and exposure to enhance healthcare development in the country.

The federal government is “harvesting” the contributions of Nigerian doctors in the UK, US, and Ireland, among others, to support the country’s healthcare system, according to him.

To mitigate the effects of the ‘japa syndrome,’ Salako explained that the government is expanding its capacity to train more health workers.

He added that Tinubu has given the green light to recruit more health workers to address the shortage of manpower in the health sector.

Salako said, “We are expanding our capacity to train health workers. We are also harvesting Nigerian health workers in the diaspora—we are having a robust engagement with Nigerian health workers in the UK, US, and Ireland. They may not be physically present, but we can still harness their contributions to the health sector in Nigeria.

“Mr. President has given us a waiver to recruit more health workers than any other sector. These are the mechanisms we are putting in place to address the challenges in the health sector.” (The Guardian)