1,417 resident doctors going abroad end of 2023, says NARD

• This exodus reflects concerns about Nigeria’s struggling healthcare sector and the escalating departure of medical practitioners
  

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The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has unveiled plans where at least 1,417 of its members intend to migrate to the United Kingdom and the United States before the conclusion of 2023.

In addition, over 900 doctors had already departed for Europe between January and September 2023.

This exodus reflects concerns about Nigeria’s struggling healthcare sector and the escalating departure of medical practitioners.

Dr. Dele Abdullahi, President of NARD, highlighted these figures in an interview with PUNCH, attributing the ongoing departure of doctors from Nigeria to substandard working conditions.

He emphasized that unless the trend of doctors leaving Nigeria—referred to as the ‘japa syndrome’—is addressed, Nigerians may face challenges accessing quality and affordable healthcare. Abdullahi lamented the unfortunate reality of numerous hospitals within the country lacking essential medical equipment.

According to him, the working conditions in the country are horrible, saying, “When better opportunities come, our doctors leave. It is beyond what people think. ”

The NARD leader said, “Between January to September 2023, the data that we have is that over 900 resident doctors have left the system for the UK and the US.

“Then we have 1,417 that showed interest and plan to leave before the end of the year.

Most resident doctors leave for the UK and the US. Now, we have two major problems. We have a chronic loss that has resulted in a chronic shortage of manpower within all the healthcare systems.

“The continuous ongoing loss is now causing problems. The problem is not what happens at the end of the year but what is happening continually. We have ongoing data and we are getting this information continuously.”

Abdullahi said a lot of Nigerian doctors who travelled abroad would have loved to work at home but could not bear the terrible working conditions anymore.

“A lot of people talk about remuneration, but there are so many other factors such as job satisfaction within your institution, the security within your society and the toxic work environment”, he added.