Health
Only 4.7% of specialists remain as 9,000 Nigerian doctors move to UK, EU, Canada
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has lamented the brain drain in the country as it noted that only 4.7% of specialists were left to take care of Nigerians’ health issues.
Speaking in Abuja at at the NMA’s maiden annual lecture with a theme: “Brain Drain and Medical Tourism: The Twin Evil in Nigeria’s Health System”, the Association’s president, Professor Innocent Ujah, noted that over 9,000 medical doctors of Nigerian origin left the shores of the country in search for greener pastures in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada in two years (2016-2018).
According to Professor Ujah over $1 billion was being spent yearly by Nigerians on medical tourism.
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He said; “According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sub-Saharan Africa has about 3 per cent of the world’s health workers while it accounts for 24 per cent of the global burden of disease. Nigeria has a doctor-to-population ratio of about 1: 4000-5000 which falls far short of the WHO recommended doctor-to-population ratio of 1:600. Nigeria is still grappling with disturbingly poor health indices,” he said.
“The Nigerian health sector today groans under the devastating impact of huge human capital flight which now manifests as brain drain.”
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