Six out of every 10 Nigerian doctors is planning to leave the country according to survey

AS many as six in 10 Nigerian medical practitioners intent to leave the country for greener pastures soon according to recent findings just published by the Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (Nard).

Amid a severe crisis in the Nigerian health sector, more and more doctors are leaving for abroad, with the UK among their top destinations. According these latest statistics, at least three Nigerian doctors were licensed per day in June and July this year, despite moves by the Nigerian government to stop the exodus of doctors and health workers from the country.

Britain's General Medical Council (GMC) which licenses and maintains the official register of medical practitioners in the UK has licensed at least 266 Nigerian doctors during the course of June and July this year. At the moment, the GMC register shows that the number of Nigeria-trained doctors in the UK currently stands at 9,976.

According to Nard, there are only 12,297 resident doctors in both the federal and state tertiary health institutions in the country. Nard president, Dr Dare Ishaya, said that currently, there are only 9,297 resident doctors in the tertiary health institutions and there are between 2,000 and 3,000 resident doctors in the state tertiary health institutions.

Dr Ishaya added: “As of the last time we issued the questionnaire, we found that out of 10 resident doctors, six of them are planning to leave or have the intention to leave. The statistics we had then was in December 2021, so, it’s either they are planning to leave or they have thought of leaving.

"As we speak, I am aware that a lot of my colleagues are working towards leaving the country and there are a lot of factors responsible for that but the push factor is majorly the economy. Of course, you will agree with me that we are having inflation in the country and the rate at which our naira is being devalued is alarming.

"If you compare our pay with the pay where most of these health workers go, you will discover that what we earn here is not up to one-tenth of what they get practising there. As long as these factors exist, our members and other health workers will continue to seek greener pastures except if things are done to reverse them.”

Nigerian Medical Association president, Dr Uche Ojinmah, added: “From 1960 till today, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has registered about 80,000 doctors in Nigeria and some have come in to practise in Nigeria. You will know that from 1960 till date, some have died, some are no longer practising, some are incapacitated, some have joined politics and a reasonable number of about 20,000 to 25,000 are practising outside the country.

“So, by the last analysis we had, we had between 20,000 and 25,000 doctors in Nigeria and this number is supposed to take care of 200m people. So, we have a ratio of one doctor to between 4,000 and 5,000 patients, meanwhile, the World Health Organisation recommends one doctor for 600 patients."