The Coordinating Minister of Well being and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, has revealed that greater than 16000 Nigerian medical doctors have left the nation previously 5 to seven years in quest of higher alternatives overseas.
This mass departure, he stated, is a results of varied components together with financial alternatives, higher working situations, superior coaching, and analysis environments out there in different international locations.
Talking on the seventh annual capability constructing workshop of the Affiliation of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) in Abuja on Tuesday, Pate lamented that the migration of healthcare professionals, which additionally consists of nurses and midwives, has additional weakened Nigeria’s already fragile healthcare system.
He famous that this mass departure has left hospitals throughout the nation severely understaffed, notably in rural areas the place the necessity for healthcare is essential.
“In Nigeria alone, over 16,000 medical doctors are estimated to have left the nation within the final 5 to seven years, with 1000’s extra leaving in simply the previous few years. Nurses and midwives have additionally thinned in numbers. The doctor-to-population ratio now stands at round 3.9 per 10,000—effectively beneath the urged world minimal.“
He additionally identified that the price of coaching a single physician in Nigeria exceeds $21,000, making the departure of skilled professionals a major monetary loss for the nation.
The minister careworn that the mass migration represents not only a loss in manpower but in addition a lack of public funding.
“However this pattern is not only about folks leaving. It represents a fiscal loss. The estimated value of coaching one physician exceeds $21,000—a determine that displays the magnitude of public financing strolling out of our international locations. It deeply impacts our well being techniques—leaving lots of our rural communities critically underserved.”
Nonetheless, Pate emphasised that this pattern of healthcare professionals leaving Nigeria additionally presents a chance for reform.
He referred to as for the event of insurance policies that steadiness the rights of well being employees to hunt alternatives overseas with the nation’s must retain a robust, purposeful well being system
“In Nigeria, guided by the imaginative and prescient of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who African Heads of State appointed because the AU’s Continental Champion for Human Assets for Well being and Neighborhood Well being Supply, we’re pursuing a brand new route. His imaginative and prescient is for Nigeria to turn out to be a affluent, people-oriented nation that contributes to a peaceable and thriving continent. Not a standalone Nigeria, however a Nigeria that’s interlinked with all our neighbours and sister international locations. Underneath the Renewed Hope Agenda, and throughout the framework of the Nigeria Well being Sector Renewal Funding Initiative, we now have embraced a brand new path—combining strategic realism with visionary ambition,” he stated.
“The Nationwide Coverage on Well being Workforce Migration is a cornerstone of this path. It’s designed to deal with well being workforce migration with dignity—dignity for well being employees, for the nation, and the occupation. It’s data-driven, evidence-guided, and alerts a transparent route. This isn’t a restrictive coverage, neither is it one born out of resignation. We perceive that the worldwide well being workforce scarcity is at 18 million, and international locations within the World North face their human useful resource crises on account of demographics and different components. However our response relies on stewardship—balancing the rights of well being professionals to hunt alternatives overseas with our responsibility to guard the integrity and viability of our nationwide well being system.”
“The goals are clear – To retain and inspire well being employees presently serving in Nigeria—1000’s of whom work underneath troublesome situations; to determine moral norms and discover bilateral frameworks for recruitment, aiming to appropriate world asymmetries; to increase coaching capability—not just for home wants, however to contribute to world workforce wants, to allow structured reintegration for the 1000’s of Nigerian professionals overseas; and to strengthen governance, enhance regulatory coordination, and construct real-time information techniques.”
Prof. Pate additionally referred to as for African nations to collaborate in tackling the difficulty of healthcare workforce mobility.
He urged African leaders to work collectively on making a continent-wide framework for coaching, accreditation, and information administration to make sure healthcare professionals who migrate are well-regulated and supported.
Throughout the workshop, the President of AMCOA, Prof. Joel Okullo, emphasised the necessity for larger cooperation between African international locations to enhance healthcare companies and tackle challenges associated to healthcare workforce administration.
The Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Dr. Fatima Kyari, and the Board Chairperson, Prof. Afolabi Lesi, additionally spoke on the occasion.
Dr. Kyari highlighted Nigeria’s profitable internet hosting of its first AMCOA workshop, whereas Prof. Lesi addressed the challenges healthcare regulators face, notably the fractured relationships between well being professionals that hinder collaboration and compromise affected person care.
“The fact is that whereas we now have dedicated and clear instructions on the stage of governance, implementation of actions is bedevilled by the fractioned and fractious relationship amongst well being employees who must be working as a workforce, with the affected person (well-being and security) as the first focus of all our actions,” he stated.
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