Over 5,000 medical doctors in Nigeria have migrated to the UK, the US, United Arab Emirates and other African countries due to inadequate compensation and unfavorable working conditions, an association representative has said.
Doctors in the country frequently resort to strikes to advocate for increased staffing and improved salaries to prevent the potential collapse of Nigeria's healthcare sector, Emeka Orji, President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, told Anadolu news agency.
He said there are approximately 12,000 resident doctors in the country and his association used to have 16,000 members five years ago.
"We have lost between 5,000 to 7,000 of doctors to brain drain within five years," he told Anadolu on Friday.
Suspended strike
He said the association has commenced discussion with the Federal Government after the suspension of the doctors' strike on August 11.
Orji however expressed deep concern on the impact of the brain drain on the country's health sector and Nigerians.
"It has led to increasing waiting time for patients in hospitals to see their doctors, multiple cancelations of surgeries and appointments due to inadequate medical doctors," he explained.
He said the association has been receiving weekly reports of doctors suffering from depression and instances of deaths associated with excessive workloads.
Hours waiting
He, however, said the association is still computing the statistics of the affected doctors.
Many Nigerians said they spend hours waiting at the clinic before seeing the doctors while some said their initial appointments were cancelled after hours of waiting.
"My appointment was canceled after waiting for three hours at the University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital (UCH) on Tuesday," Abayomi Salako told Anadolu on phone.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health and Social Welfare Prof Ali Pate has also expressed concern about the brain drain in the health sector and medical tourism, promising to tackle the challenge.
Medical tourism
"When you fly from Addis Ababa to India, you see a lot of people going for medical tourism; it is not a thing we should see as normal. We should do something about it and improve our health outcomes," he said.
Scores of Nigerian politicians, including former President Muhammadu Buhari, frequently travel overseas especially UK, US, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Egypt for medical treatment.
