Nigeria Loses 9,000 Doctors To UK, US, Canada In Two Years
Nigeria has lost over 9,000 medical doctors to the United Kingdom, Canada and
the United States of America between 2016 and 2018, the Nigerian Medical
Association (NMA) has said.
The President of the association, Professor Innocent Ujah, stated this during the Maiden NMA Annual Lecture Series in Abuja.
The theme of this year’s lecture is ‘Brain Drain and Medical Tourism: The Twin evil in Nigeria’s Health System.’
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 does not paint the country in good light.
“Brain drain worsens the already depleted healthcare resources in developing countries like Nigeria and widens the gap in health inequities worldwide. Healthcare workers generally migrate from developing countries to more developed countries, leaving a scarcity of health workers where the need is greatest.”
Quoting World Health Organisation (WHO) data, he said 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.
He said another issue that posed a great challenge to the country’s health system was medical tourism.
He said that Nigerians are said to spend over USD one billion
The President of the association, Professor Innocent Ujah, stated this during the Maiden NMA Annual Lecture Series in Abuja.
The theme of this year’s lecture is ‘Brain Drain and Medical Tourism: The Twin evil in Nigeria’s Health System.’
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 does not paint the country in good light.
“Brain drain worsens the already depleted healthcare resources in developing countries like Nigeria and widens the gap in health inequities worldwide. Healthcare workers generally migrate from developing countries to more developed countries, leaving a scarcity of health workers where the need is greatest.”
Quoting World Health Organisation (WHO) data, he said 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.
He said another issue that posed a great challenge to the country’s health system was medical tourism.
He said that Nigerians are said to spend over USD one billion
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