From IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
Immediate past President of the World Medical Association (WMA), Dr. Osahon Enabulele, on Monday tasked world leaders to improve her healthcare workforce saying Africa has a deficit of about 5.3 million healthcare workers and globally, 10 million more workers needed.
Enabulele spoke to newsmen in Benin city, the Edo state capital, shortly after arriving the state , after a successful completion of his one year tenure at the World Medical Association .
He said world leaders must come together to address the challenges of improving healthcare workforce saying, “Africa today has a deficit of about 5.3 million healthcare workers. Globally, we need 10 million more workers.”
“I want to appreciate all those who supported my tenure and to say that we have been able to say that we have made our own inroad into global affairs.
“Importantly, what we have been preaching over time in terms of building resident healthcare systems has now been accepted as a reality. So, all nations of the world are now committing themselves more than ever before as a result of the very strong advocacy that we advance to ensure that they get committed to building resident healthcare systems.
“That’s more important for us in Africa where we have very fragile health systems. Along with that’s the issue of building resident health workforce. You cannot have a healthcare system that does not boast of the requisite number of healthcare workers.”