Nigerian govt disregards medical brain drain, says country has ‘enough doctors’

Despite the paucity of qualified medical personnel in the country due to medical brain drain, the Federal Government has disregarded this issue while noting that there are actually enough doctors in the nation.

This was according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who further disclosed that the FG is attempting to find a replacement for doctors who leave the nation or resign.

Ehanire made this assertion during a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

He added that there was no ban on hiring physicians and other medical professionals in the nation.

“There is no embargo on employing doctors; where there is a need, we do. But, because there is a Civil Service regulation, there are processes before doctors are employed.

“We have heard complaints of doctors who are now leaving the system but there are actually enough doctors in the system because we are producing up to 2,000 or 3,000 doctors every year in the country, and the number leaving is less than 1,000.

“It is just that the employment process needs to be smoothened,” he said.

The minister, explained that the ministry was working with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service to use the ‘One-for-One’ employment strategy so that if one doctor or nurse resigns to go abroad another one is employed.

“So, if we have one replacement then you are not likely to have shortage.

“But that has been worked out because the Head of Service had the experience that in the past when one person goes, they use the opportunity to take three and those others may not even be people who are required.

“We want to use this policy so that we can reduce shortages and have our personnel back in our hospitals,” he said.

Read also: Amid medical brain drain, WHO raises the alarm, says 160m Nigerians at risk of Yellow Fever

In April 2022, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) disclosed that Nigeria lost over 9,000 medical doctors to the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America between 2016 and 2018.

The President of the association, Professor Innocent Ujah, stated this during the Maiden NMA Annual Lecture Series in Abuja.

He said the loss left Nigeria with only 4.7 per cent of its specialists to service the healthcare needs of the population, saying this did not paint the country in good light.

Quoting World Health Organisation (WHO) data, Professor Ujah said Nigeria had 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.

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