The Nigerian government on Sunday disclosed that at least 16,000 doctors left the country in the last five years.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, made this known during an appearance on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
Prof Pate also said only 55,000 licensed doctors are left in the country to attend to its growing population.
He disclosed that Nigeria has about 300,000 health professionals, which comprises doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, and others.
“We did an assessment and discovered that we have 85,000 to 90,000 registered Nigerian doctors. Not all of them are in the country,” he said.
“Some are in the Diaspora, especially in the US and UK. But there are 55,000 licensed doctors in the country.”
Negative Impact
The minister expressed concern over the impact of brain drain on the health sector, stating that it has deprived Nigeria of its top medical professionals, resulting in a scarcity of healthcare practitioners.
He also highlighted an uneven distribution issue, with a significant concentration of skilled doctors in urban centres like Lagos and Abuja.
He said: “The population of doctors overall is about 7,600 in Lagos and 4,700 or thereabout in Abuja.
“The doctor-to-population ratio in Abuja is 14.7 per 10,000 population. in Lagos, it is about 4.6, even though the average is 2.2 by 10,000.”
Prof Pate stressed the critical role of human resources in a robust health sector, asserting that Nigeria cannot afford to keep losing its top talents to developed nations.
He stated that the government is making efforts to enhance the training programme and incentivize healthcare workers who opt to remain and contribute to their homeland.
“We are beginning to take steps to expand the training and work environment, taking some steps to encourage salaries and incomes commission to do certain things that will encourage them to feel at home,” he said.
While acknowledging the global nature of the “Japa” syndrome, he noted its impact on countries such as India and Pakistan.
“Now to the Japa you talked about, it is not only limited to Nigeria. It is a global phenomenon. Other countries don’t have enough and they are asking to take more,” he said.
Brain drain syndrome
The exodus of healthcare professionals, especially doctors, pharmacists, and nurses to developed countries has been on the increase.
Various statistics show that Nigeria has continued to lose hundreds of doctors annually to brain drain, a large number of them to the UK.
Data documented by the development Research and Project Centre (dRPC), shows that in 2015, 233 Nigerian doctors moved to the UK; in 2016 the number increased to 279; in 2017 the figure was 475, in 2018, the figure rose to 852, in 2019 it jumped to 1,347; in 2020, the figure was 833 and in 2021, it was put at 932.
The continued emigration of health practitioners has led to a shortage of skilled health workers in the country, which has negatively affected the quality of healthcare services provided to the citizens.