The World Health Organization has reported that there is a severe shortage of healthcare workers in no fewer than 55 countries as people continue to migrate to wealthier countries in search of better-paying jobs.
The News Agency of Nigeria has reported that they continue to look for higher paying jobs in developed countries that have increased efforts to hire them in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
37 countries on the continent of Africa are experiencing a lack of health workers, according to WHO, making them the most severely affected by the situation.
“The ability to provide universal health care by 2030, one of the core Sustainable Development Goals, is in jeopardy due to a lack of health personnel.”
The WHO alert, among other locations, examined the deeds of wealthy nations that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The Director in charge of WHO’s health worker policy, Dr. Jim Campbell, said in a statement on Tuesday that Africa has a very dynamic economy that is opening up new opportunities.
“The Gulf States have traditionally been reliant on international personnel and then some of the OECD high-income countries have really accelerated their recruitment and employment to respond to the pandemic and respond to the loss of lives, the infections, the absences of workers during the pandemic”.
WHO has released an updated health workforce support and safeguards list, which emphasizes countries with low numbers of competent healthcare personnel, to assist countries in protecting their vulnerable healthcare systems.
“These countries require priority support for health workforce development and health system strengthening, together with enhanced measures that prohibit active overseas recruitment,” the WHO emphasized.
The WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, urged all nations to abide by the guidelines in the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list to support the push for universal healthcare for all nations by the SDGs.
“Health professionals are the foundation of every health system, but 55 nations with some of the most unstable health systems in the world do not have enough, and many are losing their health workers to international migration,” he continued.
Although many nations adhere to the current WHO regulations for the hiring of healthcare professionals, WHO issued a warning that the idea is not universally embraced.
“What we observed is that most nations were abiding by those rules by not actively hiring people from these vulnerable countries.
“Yet, there is also a private recruitment market, and we want them to meet some of the expected worldwide standards in terms of their behavior and practice.”
Also, there are procedures in place for governments or other parties to alert WHO if they are “worried” about the conduct of recruiters, the WHO added.
The WHO health workforce support and safeguard list does not outright forbid international hiring, but it does urge governments involved in such initiatives to be aware of the effects such hiring may have on the health systems of the nations from which they source competent medical personnel.
