The Coordinating Minister of Health Prof Ali Pate has disclosed that close to 16,000 doctors have left the country in search of greener pasture abroad.
As a result, the minister said on Sunday, less than 60,000 doctors are not left in the nation’s hospitals and other health facilities to attend to the rising number of patients in the country.
The minister spoke on the heels of the cancellation of leave of absence for health workers.
The federal government said two days ago that some health workers have capitalized on leave of absence to abandon their work while looking for better opportunities outside the country.
Health workers seeking to work outside the country must now resign their appointment, the federal government said amidst concern among the nation’s health work force that the government is tightening the noose on them.
Prof Pate who spoke on Channels Television Politics Today yesterday said the current brain drain syndrome has robbed the health sector of its best hands, stating that health workers who wishes to stay would be encouraged to do so.
According to the minister, the federal government has done an assessment of the number of health workers in the country and discovered that they are barely enough to attend to the need of patients.
He said most countries in the world are trying to motivate their health work force to stay back in their countries, noting that the problem is not peculiar to Nigeria.
The Minister said, “There are about 300,000 health professionals working in Nigeria today in all cadres. I am talking about doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory scientists and others.
“We did an assessment and discovered 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.
“The issue overall, in terms of health professionals, is that they are not enough. They are insufficient in terms of the skills mix. Can you believe most of the high skilled professional doctors are in Lagos, Abuja and a few urban centres? There is a huge distribution issue.
“The population of doctor overall is about 7,600 doctors in Lagos and 4,700 or thereabout in Abuja. The doctor to population ratio in Abuja is 14.7 per 10,000 population. These are numbers that you can verify. In Lagos, it is about 4.6, even though the average is 2.2 by 10,000.
“There are huge distributional issues and they are, of course, the opportunities even for some of those who have been trained to get into the market. So you have to look at it from a perspective that is holistic. Not only doctors but other cadres that are important in the delivery of health care. For doctors, we have been losing many that have been trained.”
“Now to the Japa you talked about, it is not only limited to Nigeria. It is a global phenomenon. Other countries don’t have enough. They are asking to take more. It is not only in Nigeria. It is happening in India, Philippines and other parts of Africa. In the last five years, we have lost about 15,000 to 16,000 and about 17,000 had been transferred. We’re barely managing. That’s why expanding their training will become logical. The same thing with nurses and midwives; they are also leaving.
“That’s why expanding the training is important to ensure those still around are well trained.”
Pate said there are still patriotic doctors, nurses and other health workers who have decided to stay back in other to help the country’s health sector grown despite the attraction abroad.
He said, “But there are also thousands more, which is what I was trying to hint at, who are here. And despite the opportunity to travel abroad did not leave and we don’t appreciate them. I’ll give you an example. The head of the ICU at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, a very brilliant gentleman. I met him in December and he said, ‘Four of my colleagues have left’ and I asked to know why he has not left. He said ‘Look, this is my country. I want to serve because health is a sector where there’s inherent motivation in those who select to go in there.’ People don’t just go in there because they want to have a job. They go because they’re intrinsically motivated and we have to recognise and tap into that.
“We are beginning to take steps to expand the training and work environment, taking some steps to encourage salaries and incomes commission to do certain things that will encourage them to feel at home. But even the issue of working hours that has come about recently, particularly for the junior doctors, is being addressed.”
