Kano, Nigeria
Aminu Muhammad, president of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, says it would take Nigeria 10 years to replace the 500 Doctors who recently left Nigeria in search of greener pastures.
Muhammad was speaking on Sunday about the findings of the association that revealed that no fewer than 500 medical personnel have relocated from Nigeria to the outside world in the 50 of 80 chapters of the association.
The president who was engaged by newsmen after he read a Communique of the biennial delegates meeting of the association held in Kano, decried the alarming relocation rate of medical specialists, saying a dark future is eminent for the country’s health sector.
Muhammad said the statistics available to them revealed that more than 500 medical consultants have migrated out of the country in search of greener pastures elsewhere.
He noted that 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 all over the world.
“Medical education is under threat, mainly due to the largest number of specialists and trainers migrating to other climes,” the communiqué reads.
“The challenges of brain drain in the health sector have remained unabated with the migration of highly skilled health care professionals not only out of Africa but, also to neighbouring west Africa”
The association through the communique called for a synergy between teaching hospitals, universities, and regulatory bodies which has contributed to the failure to optimise the potential for increasing the quality of medical students.
The association also 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”
