The Nigerian government through the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, has revealed that no fewer than 16,000 medical doctors have left the country to practice their profession abroad in the last five to seven years. Pate made this known yesterday 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).
The lecture was titled “Integrated Healthcare Regulation and Leadership in Building Resilient Health Systems”.
The minister said that the mass migration out of the country by such professional group was driven by factors such as economic opportunities, better working conditions, advanced training, and superior research environments abroad.
To stem the tide, Pate disclosed that the federal government is working hard to ensure it continue to improve health working condition and welfare of health workers.
He said, “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.”
The minister added that the government was also working towards addressing the unbalanced distribution of the medical workforce across the board, as what is currently obtainable is that over 40 per cent of doctors are concentrated in Lagos and Abuja, while the remaining parts of Nigeria are struggling without adequate medical coverage.
In his remark, State minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, said, “Africa currently stands at a crossroads with our health systems facing unprecedented challenges of pandemics, increasing burden of non communicable diseases, infrastructure deficit, high out of pocket expenses for health, climate change, economic pressures, and the persistent migration of our health workforce.”
He said Nigeria is committed to ensuring that health professionals meets the international 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.
Meanwhile, 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.
MDCN Chairman Prof. Afolabi Lesi enjoined regulators to uphold training standards, adding that with 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.
