16,000 Doctors Left Nigeria in Last Seven Years – Minister of Health Says, Promises to Motivate Those Left
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, has confirmed that no fewer than 16,000 Nigerian doctors left the country in last seven years.
During the seventh annual capacity building workshop of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa on Tuesday, in Abuja, Prof Pate made this statement. He also lamented that it costs about $21,000 to train a doctor while doctor-to-population ratio has now dropped to 3.9 per 10,000.
“In Nigeria alone, over 16,000 doctors are estimated to have left the country in the last five to seven years, with thousands more leaving in just the past few years. Nurses and midwives have also thinned in numbers. The doctor-to-population ratio now stands at around 3.9 per 10,000—well below the suggested global minimum..,” he said.
At the workshop themed “Integrated Healthcare Regulation and Leadership in Building Resilient Health Systems,” Pate said Nigeria in line with President Ahmed Tinubu’s vision, would work effortlessly to make Doctors who are still in Nigeria – great.
“The objectives are clear – To retain and motivate health workers currently serving in Nigeria; thousands of whom work under difficult conditions, to establish ethical norms and explore bilateral frameworks for recruitment, aiming to correct global asymmetries; to expand training capacity—not only for domestic needs, but to contribute to global workforce needs, to enable structured reintegration for the thousands of Nigerian professionals abroad; and to strengthen governance, improve regulatory coordination, and build real-time data systems,” he said.
Dignitaries who were present at the workshop include;
AMCOA president, Prof Joel Okullo who urged collaboration between African countries.
Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Dr Fatima Kyari, was also present as well as MDCN’s chairperson, Prof Afolabi Lesi – who talked about the need for healthcare sectors to uphold national standard but adapting to local context.
