Nigerian govt outlines plans to tackle brain drain in health sector

The Federal Government declared that efforts were being made to strengthen the health care system’s staff, especially by replacing medical professionals who have left the country in search of better opportunities elsewhere.

This was announced on Tuesday at the Joint World Health Organisation stakeholders’ feedback workshop on the evaluation of the third WHO-Nigeria country cooperation strategy (2018-2022) and development of the fourth WHO-Nigeria cooperation strategy (2023-2027), by, Dr. Salma Anas-Ibrahim, who is the Special Adviser to the President on Health.

11,478 Nigerian-trained doctors are currently working in the UK, and there are at least 10,639 Nigerian-trained nurses and midwives working there as well, according to immigration reports.

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Anas-Ibrahim said, “We are all aware that Nigeria is currently affected by the brain drain but even prior to the brain drain, our human resources are grossly inadequate, we are not yet there. So, efforts will be made towards ensuring that we address issues and enhance the capacity of our training institutions, both private and public sector, to step up action and leverage all opportunities that will guarantee sustainable human resources for health at all levels of our health care, particularly at the primary health care level in our communities.

“Efforts are ongoing to address a lot of the issues, including having one-for-one replacement immediately to replace those that have exited and efforts are ongoing to ensure that we have motivated, vibrant health workers that are retained and those that want to come back can come back and contribute to the health sector development.”

The President’s Special Adviser also said the Tinubu-led Federal Government was committed to the attainment of the health-for-all programme, through an efficient and effective Universal Health Coverage, where no one is left behind.

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