Registrar of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Prof. Owoidoho Udofia has disclosed that the unwillingness of most States governments to employ more consultants is forcing many doctors to seek greener pasture abroad.
According to the Professor of Psychiatry, consultants employed by the federal government in teaching hospitals and federal medical centres are not on such an exclusive list.
“This does not mean we don’t have enough specialists in the country. It is because the states do not want to employ specialists. This is why many of these specialists finally migrate to other countries
“In fact, most states in Nigeria have less than a total of 10 consultants in all their hospitals,” he noted.
While decrying the loss of doctors to countries like the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Canada, he disclosed that about 500 specialists are produced each year from both the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and the West African Colleges.
Recall that the United Kingdom recently suspended the recruitment of healthcare workers from Nigeria and 46 other countries.
The announcement was contained in the updated Code of Practice released by the UK Department of Health and Social Care.
According to the UK government, the increasing scale of health and social care worker migration from low and lower-middle-income countries threatens the achievement of their nation’s health and social care goals.
Udofia noted that the UK and other countries have been under pressure for some time because doctors migrating to those countries have been trained by governments of poorer nations.
“When these developing countries start having economic issues, you tend to see doctors and health workers moving to Britain. Clearly, the UK is reaping where it did not sow and it is unethical to use the money to bait doctors from countries like Nigeria, who are in the wood as far as health is concerned, to move.
“The truth is that many of those doctors wouldn’t have left their countries if things are better. No doctor will be happy leaving for abroad when he is comfortable with his job and has job satisfaction.
“There is no state-owned hospital that has adequate numbers of doctors it needs. If you visit all states, except for Lagos and FCT and maybe one or two others, no other state in the country has the doctor it needs.
“Even in some health facilities, you probably would see about five consultants who are paid by the State. The teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centres are the ones absorbing the doctors leaving the state facilities with a poor level of doctors.
“Although the recruitment exercise may not stop completely, at least the UK will do it less blatantly,” he said.
