Benin – The President, Association of Resident Doctors, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Dr Owen Omoregbe, has attributed poor motivation and inadequate facilities to the shortage of doctors in rural areas in the country.
Omoregbe stated this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Friday.
He said that the dearth of doctors in rural areas is a challenge to health care delivery in the country, calling for a reversal of the trend by stakeholders.
According to him, many medical doctors in the health system prefer to work in the urban areas rather than in the rural areas because of lack of motivation and facilities.
“When you have health care professionals in rural areas without necessary motivation, they seek transfer to the urban areas.
‘’Most of the rural areas in this country lack basic amenities and facilities to sustain the lifestyle or to act as an impetus to the welfare of these professionals.
‘’It is practiced all over the world that whenever you have doctors, who are deployed to rural areas, they are given extra welfare packages that serve as motivation,’’ he said.
He also said that the poor facilities in health care centres in the rural areas in the country had also contributed to the dearth of doctors in such areas.
‘’The health centres in rural areas should also be well equipped because you have a situation where most of the health care facilities in rural areas are mere consulting rooms with poor facilities.
‘’So health personnel, who have spent many years in training and learning his profession, will not want to sit idle on a desk; he/she will want to do something more constructive and render health services to Nigerians,’’ he added. (NAN)
