Recent study shows that African doctors are fleeing abroad to practice medicine. As any Nigerian can attest, the healthcare system in the country is in dire need of reform. Medical practitioners have been leaving the shores of Africa for many years in droves, searching for better working conditions and higher standards of care. This brain drain has had a negative impact on the already struggling healthcare system.
In the 1960s, the West African College of Surgeons was established in Nigeria in an effort to train more doctors and improve the quality of care. However, this has not been enough to stem the tide of emigration. As long as Nigerians are unable to receive the level of care they need at home, they will continue to seek medical treatment abroad.
The Nigerian health sector is not well equipped with the key components that are needed for quality health care, hence, why Nigerian doctors are fleeing abroad. These key components include leadership and governance, health financing, information and research, access to medicine and health technologies and service delivery. Even when Nigerian medical practitioners have been trained in some of the best institutions in the world, ready to provide quality health care, however, they are not able to practice their profession in Nigeria due to the lack of resources to do so.
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The lack of investment by the Nigerian government in the health sector has seen Nigerian medical practitioners leaving the country in search of better working conditions and higher salaries. Record from the UK’s General Medical Council in 2020 shows 7,875 Nigerian doctors practicing in the United Kingdom. Providing the resources needed will allow medical practitioners to stay in the country and provide quality health care to the Nigerian people.
Other factors why Nigerian doctors are fleeing abroad include the prevalence of military rule in Nigeria in the 1980s are also taken into consideration. The migration of these doctor has been a direct result of the political unrest, economic instability, and civil disruptions plaguing the country. The migration of these doctors has continued to have a significant impact on the Nigerian healthcare system, as there are now fewer medical professionals available to provide care for the country’s population.
This migration has also resulted in a brain drain, as many of the most skilled and educated Nigerians are leaving the country in search of better opportunities elsewhere. While there are many factors contributing to the migration of Nigerian doctors, it is clear that the unstable political and economic climate in Nigeria is one of the key drivers behind this trend.
Unfortunately, as long as Nigerian hospitals fail to meet up with the standard of healthcare required to sustain over 200 million people, more and more Nigerian doctors will continue to leave the shores of Africa while the citizens are left to bear the brunt.
