As more Nigerian doctors leave the country for greener pastures, the mortality cost of their departure to foreign countries totals $3.1 billion annually.
This was shared by the Executive Director, Project Pink Blue, Runcie Chidebe in Abuja at the launch of the oncology programme upgrade to support the country’s fight against cancer.
Chidebe explained that the doctor-patient ratio in Nigeria is four doctors to 10,000 patients, a far cry from the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO): one doctor to 600 patients.
He added that the current situation in the country was a “legitimate cause for concern”.
He said, “For a population of 201 million, Nigeria has less than 90 clinical oncologists who provide treatment to over 100,000 patients across the cancer centres.
“In our calculation, it means that there is only one cancer doctor to over 1,100 patients in Nigeria.
“The stark reality of this report stares us in the face and has become a legitimate cause for concern.
“Attracting and retaining healthcare workers are of greater concern. The mass migration of healthcare workers to foreign countries in recent years has only worsened the inequitable distribution of healthcare workers.
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“As at (sic) today, nine in 10 Nigerian physicians are seeking opportunities abroad. This migration of Nigerian healthcare workers abroad impacts Nigeria in diverse ways, for instance, the mortality cost of Nigerian physician migration abroad totals $3.1 billion yearly. Nigerian government loses at least N3.8 million for subsidising the training of its physicians who eventually leave the country to high-income countries (HICs).”
The annual healthcare budget for each American citizen is set at $10,000, compared to Nigeria’s $6.
Many doctors have complained of the poor welfare conditions in the country, prompting their departure.
Expert migration is not only observed in the medical field, as other experts leave to find more suitable environments, drawing the term “brain drain”.
Countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia have remained top migration destinations for physicians in Nigeria.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, a director of the Gynae Care Research and Cancer Foundation in Abuja said that “It has become worse; a doctor [in Nigeria] earns N200,000 monthly ($560), necessitating moving to countries where they can be better paid for their services … This ultimately means that eight of 10 Nigerians are presently receiving substandard or no medical care at all.”
