Nigeria Needs 10 Years to Replace 500 Migrating Doctors

Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano.

The President of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Professor Aminu Muhammad, yesterday, alerted the nation that it would take Nigeria ten years to replace 500 migrating Doctors, who left the country in search of greener pastures
Muhammad, who spoke against the backdrop of findings by the Association from 50 out of 80 chapters confirmed that no fewer than 500 medical personnel had left the shores of Nigeria to the outside world.

Lamenting that the alarming exodus of specialists out of the country painted a dark future for the health sector, he stressed that statistics available to them, more than five hundred Medical and Consultants have migrated out of the country in search of greener pastures elsewhere.

The Professor, who was answering questions from reporters shortly after he read a Communique of the Biennial Delegates Meeting of the Association held in Kano, said, “Nigeria has continued to produce the finest and highest numbers of Clinical experts Graduates, and Postgraduates in Sub-Saharan Africa, who are currently breaking records the world over.”

The communique, however, read: “Medical education is under threat, mainly due to the largest number of specialists and trainers migrating to other climes. The challenges of brain drain in the Health sector have remained unabated with the migration of highly skilled healthcare professionals, not only out of Africa but, also to neighboring west Africa.”

The communique, however, called for a synergy between teaching hospitals, universities, and regulatory bodies, which had contributed to the failure to optimise the potential for increasing the quality of medical students.
Similarly, it urged the government to organise all stakeholders towards revamping Nigeria’s healthcare system through the provision of affordable and accessible healthcare delivery in the Country.

“Government is urged to, as a matter of urgency, provide holistic solutions to the challenges of brain drain, which should include an incentive that encourages retaliation of the already depleted health care human resources in Nigeria,” he said.