Over 800 Nigerian doctors were licensed to practise in the UK during the last six months of 2021

OVER 800 Nigerian doctors were licensed to practise in the UK during the last six months of 2021 according to information just released by the General Medical Council of Britain (GMCB) revealing  applications submitted between July and December 25.

According to GMCB data just released, 805 Nigeria-trained doctors were licensed between July and December 25, 2021. According to the GMB, the regulatory body responsible for licensing doctors for practice in the UK, this brought the total number of Nigerian-trained doctors practising in the UK to 9,189.

According to the data, 1,968 of the doctors were currently undergoing training, 1,560 were general practitioners, 1,231 were specialists and a total of 4,652 were associate specialists. This figure is aside from the number of Nigerian doctors trained and practising in the UK.

In June 2021, 8,384 Nigerian doctors had been licensed while the number of Nigeria-trained specialists and consultants who migrate have continued to increase over the years. According to the data made available by the GMCB, 233 Nigerian doctors passed the examination to practise in the UK in 2015.

However, the number increased to 279 in 2016, rising to 475 in 2017, increasing to 852 in 2018 and growing to 1,347 in 2019. Of late, there has been a deluge in the number of Nigerian health professionals seeking work abroad due to the poor working conditions in the country.

During his recent budget defence presentation, Dr Chris Ngige, Nigeria's minister of labour and employment, proposed a nine year bond for health workers in a bid to curb the brain drain. In September, it was reported that Saudi Arabia organised a recruitment interview for consultants and specialists in Abuja, as it too joined the search for Nigerian doctors.