A medical practitioner, Dr. Imafidon Osama Agbonile, on Sunday said over 35,000 doctors have left Nigeria to the United State of America, European, and Asia countries for medical practice.
He said as a result of the development, Nigeria has less than one doctor to 5,000 population as against the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation of one doctor to 600 population.
Dr Agbonile disclosed this at the weekend while delivering a lecture titled: ‘Panacea for brain drain in Nigeria’, at a conference organised by the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Edo State Hospital Management Board branch.
According to him, brain drain is on the increase in Nigeria adding that over 40 to 60 percent of medical graduates from Nigeria practise abroad.
“From the various researches carried out, it is estimated that over 35,000 doctors have emigrated from Nigeria in the last 20 years. The rate of migration has trippled since 2015.
“Also, the United Kingdom register of doctors revealed that Nigerians are the fourth largest doctors in the country since 2017.
Agbonile identified non-conducive working environment, poor remuneration, inadequate opportunity for research, poor governance/leadership, lack of adequate government polices and implementations as some of the problem responsible for mass exodus of doctors out of the country.
While calling on governments at all levels to improve healthcare delivery, he noted that Nigeria has a dismal mortality rate for both communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Earlier, the Association’s chairman, Dr Alex Oko, said the conference is part of the professional training for doctors aimed at bringing them up to date with development in the medical profession.
“Professional development is a prerequisite for renewal of our license to practice. As a responsible association, we organised conferences, get a resource person to give lecture and speak on dynamic issues that affect medical profession directly or indirectly to enhance service delivery.
On his part, the state commissioner for health, Dr David Osifo, assured the association of the state government commitment to develop the health sector for effective healthcare delivery in the state.
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