Code Red: Stopping Nigeria’s Medical Brain Drain!, By Adaeze Oreh

Over the past twenty years, 35,000 medical doctors have left Nigeria to seek job opportunities in foreign countries especially the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and Australia. As years have gone by and increasing global development, we might have expected those numbers to decline. In fact, they are growing rapidly.

According to a 2018 report released by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, sub-Saharan African countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe spent upwards of USD 4.6 billion on training doctors at an individual cost of between USD 21,000 and USD 59,000 each. When they leave to work in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, these African countries sustain losses of upwards of USD 2 billion.

Push factors driving our doctors away include unfavourable government policies and decisions, frustrations with postgraduate training, insufficient technology for patient care and research, minimal opportunities for career advancement, low wages, poor overall economic conditions and a desire for improved prospects for one’s children.

This is an Africa-wide problem and demands an Africa-wide solution. The continent bears 24% of the global burden of disease, has only 2% of the global supply of doctors, and spends less than 1% of global health expenditure. However, Nigeria is at the bottom of the class. According to the World Health Organization, Nigeria’s spending on health as a share of its gross domestic product is less than that of Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Sudan.

If we intend to put brakes on the growing number of recruiters and facilitators luring our doctors and health professionals overseas, certain steps must be taken. Our government needs to engage urgently with counterparts in destination countries – Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States to slow their recruitment of African medics – while also asking them to help us build stronger health systems that will keep our professionals at home where they are needed.

Pls don't stop them naw. The Ministers have unplugged the drain, let them flow out. When you have surplus doctors and few hospitals to take them, its excess and predisposes those highly intellectual individuals to a lot of potential harm. Let them go, den bring dollars n pounds.

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