Medical brain drain is now so acute in Nigeria it would need to produce or hire from abroad and retain 12,000 doctors yearly to bridge the gap in healthcare delivery which requires one doctor to about 400 or 600 doctors.
That doctor/patient ratio is what is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has pointed out, but lamented the ratio in Nigeria is currently 1:8,000 and getting worse.
MDCAN National President Victor Makanjuola stressed Nigeria would need 12,000 doctors yearly to fill the gap created by the exodus of medical personnel in the past two years alone.
“Disturbed by the impact of this ugly trend on our country’s health sector growth and development, the MDCAN has conducted a survey among its chapters in March 2022 and found that over 500 medical and dental consultants had left Nigeria for more developed countries over the preceding two years,” he said in a statement.
“A further exploration of data by the Association’s Medical Education Committee showed that 9 out of every 10 medical and dental consultants with less than five years experience on the job have plans to leave the country.
