The recent alarm raised by the House of Representatives Committee on Health over the decline in manpower in the nation’s hospitals should worry the government and those in charge of the health sector. The members of the committee, who visited the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, revealed that five wards with about 150 beds had been shut due to migration of Nigerian doctors, nurses and other health workers to foreign countries with better conditions of service.
The chairman of the committee, Dr. Amos Magaji, who described the situation as worrisome, admitted that the migration of Nigeria’s health workers overseas has taken a great toll on the nation’s health system. The unbridled migration of Nigeria’s medical and other health workers to countries in Europe and America has largely depleted the manpower in the health sector. A recent report by the register of the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom (UK), indicated that Nigeria will soon overtake Pakistan to become the country with the second-highest number of foreign-trained doctors in the UK, after India.
The GMC is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners in the UK. Available statistics indicate that about 1,197 Nigerian-trained doctors moved to the UK from May 29 to December 1, 2023. Currently, the total number of Nigerian doctors licensed to practise in the UK is now 12,198.
Apart from the UK, other countries are reaping from the exodus of Nigeria’s health personnel to overseas. The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) had in January stated that more than 2,000 of its members left the country in 2022.
Between December 2021 and May 2022, a total of 727 medical doctors trained in Nigeria relocated to the UK alone. Data attributed to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) of the UK showed that the number of Nigeria-trained nurses increased by 68.4 per cent from 2,790 in March 2017 to 7,256 in March 2022.
Almost, all the states in the country are affected by the exodus of health workers. In Kano State, no fewer than 789 nurses and 162 doctors have left the state, while about 50 doctors left hospitals in Benue State. Within the same period, 65 doctors reportedly left Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife, while about three wards had stopped admitting patients over inadequate manpower in the hospital.
In other parts of the country, officials of some hospitals have reportedly reduced the number of their outpatients and surgeries due to a shortage of manpower. The exodus of Nigerian doctors has hampered healthcare delivery system. For instance, the doctor-to-patient ratio in the country is now 1:10,000 as against the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 1:1,000.
The situation is worrisome and requires urgent remedial action. The government can halt the exodus of Nigerian health professionals by paying them competitive remuneration. Medical doctors and other health workers need conducive work environment to perform optimally. The brain drain in the health sector must be holistically addressed before it is too late. In addition, the hospitals must be adequately equipped.
The migration of Nigeria’s health personnel can be curbed if the government can make the sector attractive and rewarding to all health workers. The indication that the committee will work together with the federal government and the teaching hospitals to check the raging migration is welcome. Apart from addressing the poor working conditions of doctors and other health professionals, the government must ensure that our hospitals are adequately equipped and staffed. All the dilapidated equipment must be removed. Urgent attention should be given to the infrastructure decay in these hospitals.
We call on the federal government to substantially increase the annual budgetary allocation to the health sector. Increasing the health sector budget to 15 per cent or more will go a long way in addressing some of the challenges of the sector. More doctors should be recruited to replace the exited ones. The earlier the government takes the sector seriously, the better for the country. Nigeria cannot afford to spend so much money in training the health personnel only to lose them to other countries. The government must avert the impending collapse of the health sector.