A medical doctor, Dr. Olawale Ogunlana, has lamented the mass exodus of doctors and healthcare practitioners from Nigeria; saying the country may lose all its doctors in the next six years.
In a video he tweeted on his X account, @olawalesmd; he said that in five months, over 720 medical doctors had moved from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, which means that every week, at least 36 doctors leave the country.
Ogunlana appeared to be quoting a 2022 statistics also cited by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors in January.
NARD had stated that at east 85 per cent of Nigerian doctors are planning to leave the country to seek greener pastures.
While there are currently 10,000 resident doctors in Nigeria, 85 percent of them, according to him, are planning to leave the country, meaning that in six years, Nigeria may lose all its doctors; leaving the
“Nigerians are struggling and this has a profound effect on our health system because not only doctors are leaving, nurses, pharmacists, scientists and even traditional herbalists are also leaving the country.
“Nigerian doctors are already spread thin; the World Health Organisation (WHO) may put it at one doctor to about 6,000 patients, but it really feels like one doctor to 10,000 patients and this is particularly true if you live in remote areas,”
He urged the government to address the major issues, such as,poor remuneration of healthcare workers and poor working conditions, among others, to salvage the situation.
