Japa syndrome: 16,000 Nigerian Doctors emigrate within five years, says minister
The Nigerian government has revealed that 16,000 licensed Medical Doctors have left service of the country in the ‘Japa syndrome’, while about 17,000 been transferred within the last five years to seek greener pastures in foreign countries
Penpushing reports that the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate made the revelation in an interview, lamenting the exodus of the Doctors, which also include other health workers, adding that with the development the country now has only 55,000 to serve its growing population of over 200 million.
The Minister explained that the country is barely managing the available ones stressing that Nigeria has about 300,000 health professionals, including doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, and others.
‘We did an assessment and discovered that we have 85,000 to 90,000 registered Nigerian doctors. Not all of them are in the country. Some are in the diaspora, especially in the US and UK. But there are 55,000 licensed doctors in the country’, he said.
Penpushing further reports that he expressed concern over the impact of brain drain on the health sector, stating that it has deprived Nigeria of its top medical professionals, resulting in a scarcity of healthcare practitioners.
The Minister highlighted an uneven distribution issue, with a significant concentration of skilled doctors in urban centres like Lagos and Abuja, explaining that in Lagos, the population of Doctors overall is about 7,600 and 4,700 in Abuja.
‘The doctor-to-population ratio in Abuja is 14.7 per 10,000 population; in Lagos, it is about 4.6, even though the average is 2.2 by 10,000. Now to the ‘Japa’ you talk about, it is not only limited to Nigeria. It is a global phenomenon. Other countries don’t have enough and they are asking to take more’, he said.
Penpushing also reports that the Minister stressed the critical role of human resources in a robust health sector, saying Nigeria cannot afford to keep losing its top talents to developed nations, adding that the government is making efforts to enhance the training programme and incentivise healthcare workers who opt to remain in the country.
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