Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, has come under fire from the medical community for failing to consider local needs in his proposed Telemedicine innovation, a digital platform to engage medical workers in diaspora to provide remote clinical services to Nigerians at home.

The minister pitched the digital platform to Nigerian medical practitioners living abroad in a now-deleted X post (formerly Twitter), but it was not received favourably.

The medical community criticised the minister for lacking understanding of the issues confronting Nigeria’s healthcare system and seized the opportunity to expose the inefficiencies they witnessed as active stakeholders.

“This tech stuff, though a great idea, will only widen the inequality gap. Even if you can afford it, can you boast of a good network? No. How many Nigerians have health insurance, public or private? Health institutions are grossly understaffed. We need to be real for once and address the main issues.” Frederick Unuigbokhai, a doctor and healthcare advocate, said this in response to the minister’s proposal.

READ ALSO: ’10 of 13 Doctors Left UCH Department in One Year — No Replacement’

In varying degrees, commenters explained why a tech-first solution cannot salvage the problems ravishing Nigeria’s healthcare sector, illustrating the deep dysfunction in the sector.

According to Chidinma O., another medical doctor, Nigeria is building on a very faulty, fragmented foundation. While telemedicine is a good idea, she noted, there is a time and place for it.

“A quick fix will not solve the fundamental problem. The difference between here (Nigeria) and saner climes is that they have structure and we don’t. We both have leaking holes, and they are plugging theirs by taking us away. What do I mean? HCW (healthcare workers) shortage is worldwide. What are we doing to plug our holes? Stopping HCWs from leaving doesn’t count. There are constants of patient care that cannot be easily replaced by telemedicine. And even if they can, Nigeria is not ready for it yet. We need to get the basics right first.”

READ ALSO: Expensive Equipment, No Doctor. Multi-Million Naira Nigerian Army Hospital Wastes Away in Osun

Nigerian healthcare professionals have continued to emigrate to the UK, Canada, and the US over the years in search of better opportunities, leading to a shortage of medical practitioners in the country.

In April, the UK General Medical Council’s data revealed that there were 11,055 Nigerian-trained doctors in the UK. A report from the Nigerian Medical Association from at least three years ago stated that 33,000 doctors from Nigeria’s 75,000 had left the country to practice abroad.

To address the brain drain and ensure that Nigerians have access to medical personnel, successive governments have attempted to adopt multiple approaches. Under former president Muhammadu Buhari, lawmakers attempted to pass a bill mandating a 5-year compulsory national service for medical doctors and nurses before moving overseas for medical practice.

The bill was eventually squashed following public outrage. Tijani’s proposal represents yet another initiative targeted at minimising the impact of the brain drain in Nigeria’s healthcare sector, but medical practitioners have argued that it is only a “fancy project”.

Baridueh Badon, a healthcare professional urged the minister to instead liaise with the health minister to solve the ground problems.

“This is a fancy project that we don’t need if things are working well. We also have many telemedicine startups. Consider empowering them,” he said.

“I will prescribe antibiotics to a patient via telemedicine made by the government, but the patient won’t be able to afford it because a drug of N1,000 is now N25,000. This is just one example. I have 100 scenarios running through my head. This will never work without addressing the core problems: Poor healthcare infrastructure; no universal health coverage. I don’t think you can afford doctors abroad and refuse to pay the one on ground well; Poor earning power of patients, other tech issues, a dysfunctional health system.”