Dr. Douye Nomayo, a Nigerian medical doctor, has earned the prestigious prize for best overall performance in the School of Health & Psychological Sciences at City, University of London. This remarkable achievement follows her pursuit of a Master’s degree in Health Policy, driven by a desire to improve healthcare access and infrastructure in Nigeria.
Dr. Nomayo’s decision to specialize in health policy stemmed from her firsthand experience of healthcare challenges in Nigeria. Having worked nine years at the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, she witnessed the struggles patients faced due to high costs and limited availability of services.
Nomayo in a press statement said she decided to pursue a second degree in Health Policy because of her interest in public service.
“During my time spent working in the hospital, I saw the suffering people went through to access healthcare, due to high cost or unavailability.
“I realised that healthcare practitioners must get more involved in politics in order to get problems in the health sector on the political agenda solved quickly. I set out to understand the financial and political aspects of policy-making in healthcare and learnt how to formulate, evaluate and improve on existing policies.
“Several countries have gone through health system reforms and their experiences can be leveraged upon to produce changes that will be financially feasible and acceptable to both healthcare providers and the Nigerian population,” she said.
Speaking further, Nomayo blamed the migration of Nigerian medical professionals to foreign countries, particularly the UK and the United States, on insecurity and economic factors.
“The level of insecurity became so high, forcing so many people to leave. A lot of medical doctors were kidnapped, and some were even killed,” she said, adding that medical professionals were not adequately paid for their work, while most of the hospitals in Nigeria are poorly equipped.”
