The Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) on Wednesday dismissed widespread beliefs that the best brains among healthcare professionals had left Nigeria to seek greener pastures abroad.

President of PAN, Dr Olufemi Ogunrinde made the dismissal in Akure at a news conference to herald the 54th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the association.

“I want to salute the health workers that are staying behind to continue offering services and I want to say that it is not the best brains that are leaving.

“We still have best and fantastic brains who are not leaving, who are committed to stay in this country despite everything,” he said.

The theme of the conference is: “Optimising Child Healthcare in Nigeria Despite Current Socio-Economic Challenges.”

Mr Ogunrinde bemoaned infant mortality rate in the country, and advocated for optimal performance of stakeholders for the well-being of children in Nigeria

“We at PAN are not so happy with poor health indices of Nigeria, though we have made some gains in recent years compared to 1990, but we still have some number of children dying.

“The last statistics shows 74 children die per 1000 births and neonatal deaths almost double that number, about 100.

“So, to every 1000 children that are born, about 100 die. That is about 10 per cent. That is actually a loss to any nation. When you compare to what other people are getting in other climes, it is about three to 1000.

“Also we still have a number of children that are malnourished. They are stunted, they are not growing well. And from experience, these children constitute a social problem.

“They hardly develop well. They may grow up well with adequate nutrition, but damage has been done to the brain especially in the first to three years when they are supposed to get the nutrients, but they were not given,” he stated.

The paediatrician added that such damage could be permanent, saying that this would invariably affect the trajectory of the nation.

“Can you imagine a nation that is full of defective adults? It is not going to function very well,” he said.

The PAN President asked mothers to adhere strictly to exclusive breast-feeding and necessary vaccination, adding that they should access good healthcare services for their children.

He said that the 3-day conference in Akure would discuss sickle cell, anaemia, pneumonia and other factors that could negatively impact children and proffer solutions.

(NAN)