16,000 Medical Doctors Left Nigeria-FG

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, has said no fewer than 16,000 medical doctors left Nigeria to practice abroad in the last five to seven years.

Pate, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the annual capacity-building workshop of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA), and hosted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) with the themed “Integrated Healthcare Regulation and Leadership in Building Resilient Health Systems”.

The minister said the government was also working towards addressing the maldistribution of the medical workforce, adding that over 40 per cent of doctors are concentrated in Lagos and Abuja, while many parts of Nigeria remain without adequate medical coverage.

“The mass migration out of the country was driven by factors such as economic opportunities, better working conditions, advanced training, and superior research environments abroad.

“We have doubled the quotas for training in medical schools, pharmacy, nursing, and other health professions. Why? Because our experience shows that when you train more, more might stay and those who left often return,” he said.

On his part, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako said Nigeria is committed to ensuring that health professionals meet standards of competence, conduct and ethics in order to safeguard the public and ensure that they get the best care at any point in time.

He said: “Africa currently stands at a crossroads with our health systems facing unprecedented challenges of pandemics, increasing burden of non-communicable diseases, infrastructure deficit, and high out of pocket expenses for health, climate change, economic pressures, and the persistent migration of our health workforce”.

President of AMCOA Prof. Joel Okullo said the workshop offers a rare opportunity for stakeholders within the healthcare realm to converge, share insights, and cultivate robust networks.

Also, MDCN Chairman Prof. Afolabi Lesi noted that the level of governance, implementation of actions is bedeviled by fractured and fractious relationships among health workers who ought to be working as a team and enjoined regulators to uphold training standards.