Massive Recruitment of Health Workers by Lagos State: A Positive Step, But Raises Concerns of Private Sector Drain
Massive Recruitment of Health Workers by Lagos State: A Positive Step, But Raises Concerns of Private Sector Drain
The recent recruitment drive by the Lagos State Government to engage health officers including Doctors, Nurses, Radiographers, Pharmacists, Medical Laboratory Scientists, Medical Laboratory Technicians, Dental Therapists and Technologists has continued to generate mixed reactions within the health sector.
While stakeholders commend the government’s efforts to strengthen manpower across public hospitals, there are growing concerns that the massive intake may create fresh gaps in the private health systems, which currently provides significant proportion of healthcare services in the state.
According to industry observers, many of the professionals being employed by the state are currently working in private facilities. Their departure, if not properly balanced, could lead to a serious vacuum especially among low and middle-tier healthcare facilities that are already struggling to retain experienced personnel amid rising cost of operations.
Some analysts described this emerging situation as a “localised Japa syndrome” not necessarily flight from one country to another but an internal migration from the private medical practices to government hospitals. The long-term consequences, they warned , may mirror the challenges currently being experienced nationally from external migration.
Experts further argued that if this internal exodus continues unchecked, the private health segment may suffer weak capacity, poor continuity of service delivery, reduction in patient access and potential regulatory breakdowns, thereby indirectly affecting the overall healthcare outcomes in Lagos State.
Stakeholders are therefore calling on the Lagos State Government to consider the implications of this movement and ensure proper system balance. They also recommend that the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) should consider the effects of the exodus when doing their oversight functions during monitoring or routine facility inspection.
They insisted that periodic review of the recruitment impact is necessary, not to limit government employment, but to ensure that the private health economy, which plays a major complementary role to government hospitals, does not become destabilised.
As Lagos expands its workforce for improved service in public hospitals, the call is now for strategic coordination — so that while solving one problem, the state does not unintentionally create another.
Lagos state is known for standard and qualitative healthcare systems but as we strengthen the public sector we should not allow the private sector to suffer.