Politics
Nigerian doctors free to leave the country, we’ve more than enough —Ngige
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Wednesday said that Nigeria has surplus doctors and that he is not worried seeing many of them deciding to leave Nigeria to practice abroad.
He stated this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television progamme, Sunrise Daily.
Ngige, who is a doctor himself, said usually when a country has more than enough people in any profession, the people are free to travel out to practice their profession.
He cited himself as an example, saying that he was taught by Indians in secondary school.
He said, “I’m Not Worried, We Have Surplus (Doctors), if we have a surplus, we export. I was taught Biology and Chemistry by Indian teachers in my secondary school days.
“They are surplus in their country. We have a surplus in the medical profession in our country. I can tell you this. It is my area, we have excess. We have enough, more than enough, quote me.”
When Ngige was asked if he indeed, as a qualified medical doctor actually does not see anything wrong in Nigerian doctors traveling overseas to practice at the detriment of Nigeria’s health sector, he said:
“There is nothing wrong, they go out to sharpen their skills, earn money and send them back home here. Yes, we have foreign exchange earnings from them, not from oil.”
READ ALSO: Overthrow of the existing order, not restructuring is what Nigeria needs – Osoba
Noting that the move does not amount to brain drain, he added, “Those guys (doctors) go there, they are better trained because of the facilities they have there. Eventually, I know a couple of them who practice abroad but set up medical centres back home. They have CAT scan, MRI scan which even the government hospitals cannot maintain. So, I don’t see any loss.
“Brain drain will only be inimical when for instance neurosurgeons travel and we don’t have neurosurgeons here.”
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