The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has raised concerns over the increasing migration of doctors from Nigeria, saying some medical students now begin making plans to leave the country before completing their training.
NMA President, Professor Afekhide-Ernest Omoti, said the trend posed a serious threat to the country’s healthcare system and required urgent action by the Federal Government.
Omoti, who spoke in response to inquiries from Sunday PUNCH, said some medical students were already preparing for foreign qualifying examinations while still in school, with the aim of relocating shortly after completing their professional registration.
“The Nigerian medical student, even before he graduates, is already planning how to leave the country because he’s seen what is ahead of him, that there is no future ahead,” he said.
According to the NMA president, some young doctors sit foreign examinations during their internship so they can relocate soon after completing the registration process in Nigeria.
He warned that the situation could not continue and called on the government to improve conditions for young doctors to make staying in the country a viable career option.
“We want that junior doctor, or that medical student, to look ahead of him and see that the doctors ahead of him are living fairly comfortably, and are not living in fear, they are not living in penury,” Omoti said.
He disclosed that the NMA had submitted a proposal to the government for a minimum retention package aimed at discouraging doctors from leaving the country.
The association, he said, was not seeking remuneration comparable to what doctors earn in developed countries but wanted conditions that would make remaining in Nigeria financially and professionally sustainable.
“We’re not asking that you give us what is equivalent to what people earn abroad, but we’re saying give us what will make the doctor happy to remain in the country, and that amount is not that much,” he said.
Omoti maintained that many Nigerian doctors would prefer to practise at home if their welfare, security and working conditions improved.
“Every doctor wants to remain in this country, I can assure you, hardly any doctor ordinarily would want to leave. We want to stay. But for many people, they just cannot do it anymore,” he said.
He also warned that Nigeria was losing substantial investments in medical education when trained doctors left for other countries.
“The government spends so much money to train an average doctor, and these doctors leave for free. Who loses? The government loses; the Nigerian people lose,” he said.
The NMA president urged the government to introduce measures capable of retaining trained doctors and addressing the factors driving health professionals abroad, including poor remuneration, inadequate infrastructure, limited career opportunities and concerns about working conditions.
The association has repeatedly called for improved welfare, better healthcare infrastructure, safer workplaces and stronger incentives to retain medical personnel.
It has also advocated an increase in the retirement age for clinical health workers, arguing that retaining experienced professionals could help reduce the effects of the current manpower shortage while younger doctors are trained and retained.
NMA demands protection for healthcare workers
Omoti also raised concerns about attacks and harassment targeting healthcare workers, describing the frequency of such incidents as alarming.
He said a national policy addressing intimidation and harassment of healthcare workers had been developed and released following the work of a committee established to examine the problem.
Under the policy, he said hospitals would be expected to provide adequate security for healthcare workers and ensure that those responsible for attacks were prosecuted and, where appropriate, made to compensate affected workers.
The NMA president also called for stronger security measures in hospitals, including the deployment of sufficient security personnel and the installation of closed-circuit television cameras, particularly around emergency departments.
He attributed some confrontations between healthcare workers and patients’ relatives to grief, frustration, poor communication and misunderstandings about the realities of medical care.
“You can’t expect that everybody who comes to a hospital, no matter how bad it is, must survive. So, the fact that you are grieving doesn’t mean you take your anger on the doctor or on the healthcare professional,” he said.
Omoti also urged hospitals to improve communication with patients and their relatives, particularly about the limitations created by staff shortages.
He said the shortage of doctors meant that healthcare workers in emergency departments were often required to attend to large numbers of patients simultaneously, making it difficult to provide the level of attention expected by families.
“Because of the limited workforce, the only person there in the emergency, with so many patients, and then you expect that one doctor will divide himself into 10, and attend to 10 patients at once. You can’t do that,” he said.
