How Nigeria Can Attract Oluyinka Olutoye, Others
Nigeria is not only in need of basic necessities of which one is the absence of good medicare, the country is also in shortage of excellent hands to deliver the care. Some of the reasons for this can be found in several reports stating that over 60 per cent of Nigerian trained doctors are plying their trades abroad due to obsolete facilities at home and poor remuneration amongst other challenges.
Little wonder many people can’t help but marvel at the exploits of some Nigerians in different professions abroad. A good example is Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, a paediatric surgeon, who first had his medical study at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife before moving to the US to further his education.
There, he obtained a Ph.D. in Anatomy from Virginia Commonwealth University. Olutoye caught the attention of the world through the global media for leading a team that conducted some remarkable medical surgeries.
Perhaps the most outstanding of all by Olutole and his team was when they removed sacrococcygeal teratoma — a rare tumour that appears at the base of a baby’s tailbone — and returned the child to the mother’s womb. Twelve weeks after that unprecedented operation, the baby was born normally earning the tagline, “a baby that was born twice”.
Following the wide reports generated by the feat, many have said that the Nigerian government needs to do more to attract great hands like Olutoye and others to help revive Nigeria’s ailing health sector.
But the respectable surgeon has given a simple thought into how Nigeria can harness her pool of talents. “Nigerians are a talented people. If they decide to apply themselves, they can achieve much. When they then have access to resources and infrastructure, they can attain even greater heights”.
Recall, this is similar to the constant cry of medical practitioners and union members who are working in different units within Nigeria’s health sector . Hopefully, the government will hear the cry and put the right infrastructure and resources in place to preserve both the human and economic lives of the nation.