The Federal Government and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have lamented the mass emigration of Nigeria-trained healthcare professionals.
They complained that the country ranks next to India and Pakistan in the number of foreign doctors plying their trade in the United Kingdom (UK).
According to them, Nigeria lost over 9,000 medical doctors to the UK, Canada, and the United States of America between 2016 and 2018.
Data from the UK’s Register of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) shows that the number of Nigeria-trained nurses rose by 68.4 percent from 2,790 in March 2017 to 7,256 in March 2022.
The NMA advocated the creation of a conducive environment for healthcare professionals to thrive, while other socio-economic aspects like insecurity, poor remuneration, and welfare, among others, should be adequately addressed.
They stated this in Abuja during a national symposium anchored by the Partnership for Advancing Child and Family Health at Scale (PAS), a policy advocacy project implemented through strategic partnerships by the development Research and Projects (dRPC) and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to address brain drain in the country.
The NMA President, Dr. Uche Ojinmah, said: “As of today, Nigeria-trained doctors are leaving in droves for Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. No official figures yet, but it can’t be less than 2,000 as of today.
“Brain drain is real. But it is worse as it pertains to medical residency (medical postgraduate clinical training) programs in Nigeria because the trainers (Specialists) and trainees/possible trainees (raw material) are being ‘drained’ down to dregs.”
