The Federal Government has given the green light for the recruitment of 200 medical and clinical personnel at the Federal Medical Centre in Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
This move is part of the government’s strategy to replenish the workforce at the FMC in Abeokuta, compensating for health workers who have departed for foreign countries recently.
Reports indicate that the authorization to hire these new staff members was communicated through a letter from the office of the Head of Service of the Federation. Dated November 24 and addressed to the FMC Medical Director, the letter, marked as HCSF/SPSO/ODD/E&WP/650361, was in response to the medical centre’s request for additional personnel. It bore the title ‘RE: Application For A Waiver To Employ Staff At Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta’.
“I am directed to refer to your letter ref. no. SMH.587/S.26/T/73 dated 31st August 2023 on the above subject, and convey the approval of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for a waiver to enable Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, to fill a total of Two Hundred (200), positions,” the letter partly read.
The FMC was granted a waiver to employ 100 medical staff on the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure; 50 nursing officers and 50 nursing superintendents on the Consolidated Health Salary Structure.
This approval, it was said, “is based on and limited to the 2023 Approved Establishment position of the Centre which covers the proposed recruitment.”
The Ogun FMC was advised by the letter to “obtain the clearance of the Budget Office of the Federation in line with the provisions of the extant circular issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation before the recruitment, and to adhere to extant rules including the Federal Character principle while filling the vacancies.”
Speaking with our correspondent in a phone interview on Monday, the spokesman for the medical centre, Segun Orisajor, confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
Orisajor said the recruitment of new doctors and nurses would help in addressing the issue of staff shortages occasioned by the so-called Japa syndrome.
“Yes, it is (authentic). The Medical Director, Prof Adewale Musa-Olomu quite appreciates the Head of Service of the Federation and Ministers of Health for the kind gesture which will go a long way in reducing the heavy burden on the few hands-on ground due to the Japa syndrome,” Orisajor said.
The Chairman of the Medical and Dental Consultant Association of Nigeria, Dr Jimoh Saheed, had earlier disclosed that in the last four years, the FMC in Abeokuta had lost about 50 consultants and 150 resident doctors to the japa syndrome.
