By Ken Asinobi
…Suggests Raising Retirement Age To 70
Former Rivers State Governor and Pro-Chancellor of Pamo University of Medical Sciences (PUMS), Dr. Peter Odili has raised the alarm over what he described as a growing and dangerous shortage of medical educators in Nigeria.
Speaking during the 5th convocation ceremony of the university on Thursday and Friday, Odili blamed the trend on the increasing migration of health professionals to other countries.
He warned that the country is gradually running out of qualified teachers and practitioners needed to train the next generation of medical doctors.
According to him, the problem has become a “silent national crisis” that requires urgent attention from government and regulatory authorities.
“At this point, permit me to draw attention to what I consider a silent national issue — the extinction of teachers and practitioners in medical education across the country,” Odili said.
“Ask any administrator in any tertiary hospital and they will tell you the same thing: we are lacking qualified professionals who should help us train these young ones.”
He attributed the trend largely to the search for better working conditions and pay abroad, popularly referred to as greener pastures.
“Why are they leaving? Greener pastures,” he noted. “We need to do something. Let us make our pasture greener than it is now.”
The former governor specifically called for an upward review of the retirement age for medical professionals, proposing that it be increased to at least 70 years to allow experienced hands to remain active in teaching and practice.
“Another issue is the retirement age for qualified professionals,” Odili said. “Increase it to at least 70. From field experience, most of our eminent professors are retirees from other universities, and they are doing very, very well.”
He also urged the government to review the remuneration of medical professionals, stressing that the nature of their work does not allow for delays or interruptions.
“With all due respect, judges can adjourn a case for six months, construction engineers can suspend work, but no medical doctor can afford the luxury of adjourning the treatment of a patient with an emergency condition,” he said.
The convocation ceremony was attended by the Chancellor of PUMS and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, as well as the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Ribadu, among other dignitaries.
In his remarks, Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, described PUMS as a flagship institution in Nigeria’s medical education sector. Represented by his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu, the governor said graduates of the university would help bridge critical gaps in the country’s healthcare workforce.
He added that the state government was satisfied that its investment in sponsoring indigenes to study at the institution was yielding positive results and contributing meaningfully to healthcare development in Nigeria.
