Nigeria's medical brain drain continues unabated as 91 doctors register in the UK over the last fortnight

NIGERIA'S ongoing healthcare crisis that has seen the incessant exodus of doctors abroad has got significantly worse over the last fortnight with as many as  91 physicians have registered in the UK over the last two weeks.

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 to statistics published in the summer, 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.

Apparently, there are currently about 10,296 Nigeria-trained doctors practising in the UK according to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) as the incessant brain drain that has seen physicians leave in large numbers continues unabated. According to date just released by the UK's General Medical Council (GMC), it licensed 91 doctors over the 15 day period between October 10 and October 25.

With this latest tranche of accreditation, the total number of Nigerian-trained doctors in the UK now stands at 10,387. These include 5,210 associate specialists, 2,318 doctors in training, 1,837 general practitioners and 1,273 specialists.

Apart from doctors, other categories of Nigerian health workers are also migrating abroad with the UK, US and Saudi Arabia among the major destinations.  Statistics also showed that between January 1 and September 30, 2022, about 1,307 Nigerian-trained doctors were licensed in the UK.

However, Nigerian doctors who got medical qualifications in schools outside the country are not included in this data. Perturbed about the crisis, the NMA, said Nigeria may have to import doctors in the future.

Dr Victor Makanjuola, the president of the Medical and Dental Consultant Association of Nigeria, said: “In the last two years, over 500 consultants, in my estimation, have left the services of government hospitals for practice abroad. All our government hospitals are consultant-led practices, which is the global standard.

"We have lost 500 in just two years and we have found out that those who are more likely to leave are the younger ones. To sustain the system and be able to train the next generation of medical doctors and medical students, Nigeria needs to retain the older consultants who are in their 50s and getting close to retirement so that they can stay back and train the next generation of doctors and medical students.

“Otherwise, the disaster of brain drain would be doubled because we would lose the younger ones and the older ones at about the same time, and you would find a system without consultants. This would affect the standard of care and the quality of care given by hospitals.”