Some stakeholders in the health sector have lauded the contribution of Youth Corp Members in the health sector saying their presence has prevented the Nigeria’s health system from collapsing.
According to Professor Femi Johnson, a public health expert at the University of Ibadan, he stated that the NYSC plays a critical support role in the health sector in Nigeria. This much he highlighted has been the norm for decades. He said that “people make the mistake of thinking NYSC doctors are not eminently qualified. That is an error of judgement. These are qualified doctors who are undertaking their mandatory national service year.”
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“The strike action by resident doctors in the country recently indeed exposed the inadequacies in the health sector, as well as the importance of the NYSC as a scheme in the health sector in Nigeria.”
Another top-ranking member of the Nigerian Medical Association, who pleaded anonymity stated that most public hospitals in Nigeria depend heavily on NYSC doctors and nurses, especially in rural areas.
“In most public health centres across the country, the mainstay are corps members, either doctors or nurses. This is not strange because it is what the NYSC entails. It is service for these newly inducted medical doctors.”
Other health experts interviewed stated that NYSC as an institution could be classified as an interventionist agency for its critical role in the country’s life.
According to Nnonso Nwangwu, a medical doctor in one of the Federal Medical Centres in the country, the NYSC doctors are an integral part of the health sector in Nigeria. “As a fact, we look forward to the posting of NYSC doctors to our facility to augment our workforce year in year out. This is cognizant of the fact that lots of doctors are leaving Nigeria in droves, and the lifesaver has been NYSC doctors, who are always willing and able to provide critical intervention.”
He further added that the government should act as a matter of urgency to extend the service year for doctors and nurses to fill in the void created by the massive brain drain experienced in the health sector in Nigeria.
“We need the government to address the brain drain issue by extending the service year for medical personnel undergoing the NYSC scheme. I dare say that some states in Nigeria depend wholly on NYSC doctors and nurses to man primary healthcare centres, and in some instances general hospitals.”
He also expressed fear that some health institutions might collapse without the intervention of the NYSC doctors.
“We fear for the collapse of the health sector in some states, and the government must come to terms with this stark reality and do all possible to address some of the issues at the NYSC for its contributions in the health sector cannot be overemphasized.”
It would be recalled that the NYSC management has in recent times advocated for more allocation of resources to equip corps members during their service year through the establishment of the NYSC Trust Fund to assist corp members in ways too numerous to mention.
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