• About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Sunday, June 22, 2025
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
Tech | Business | Economy
  • News
  • Tech
    • DisruptiveTECH
    • ConsumerTech
    • How To
    • TechTAINMENT
  • Business
    • Telecoms
    • Mobility
    • Environment
    • Travel
    • StartUPs
      • Chidiverse
    • TE Insights
    • Security
  • Partners
  • Economy
    • Finance
    • Fintech
    • Digital Assets
    • Personal Finance
    • Insurance
  • Features
    • IndustryINFLUENCERS
    • Guest Writer
    • EventDIARY
    • Editorial
    • Appointment
  • TECHECONOMY TV
  • Apply
  • TBS
  • BusinesSENSE For SMEs
  • Chidiverse
  • News
  • Tech
    • DisruptiveTECH
    • ConsumerTech
    • How To
    • TechTAINMENT
  • Business
    • Telecoms
    • Mobility
    • Environment
    • Travel
    • StartUPs
      • Chidiverse
    • TE Insights
    • Security
  • Partners
  • Economy
    • Finance
    • Fintech
    • Digital Assets
    • Personal Finance
    • Insurance
  • Features
    • IndustryINFLUENCERS
    • Guest Writer
    • EventDIARY
    • Editorial
    • Appointment
  • TECHECONOMY TV
  • Apply
  • TBS
  • BusinesSENSE For SMEs
  • Chidiverse
No Result
View All Result
Tech | Business | Economy
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT
Home News

Japa: 16,000 Doctors Left Nigeria in Five Years – Minister

by Techeconomy
March 11, 2024
in News
0
Nigerian Passport, japa syndrome
Nigerian Passport

Nigerian Passport

UBA
Advertisements

Nigeria currently has 55,000 licensed doctors to attend to the growing population of patients following the exodus of health professionals to hospitals and health facilities abroad.

The Federal Government disclosed on Sunday that, in the last five years, the country lost about 15,000 to 16,000 doctors to the japa syndrome (mass emigration) while about 17,000 had been transferred.

Professor Ali Pate, the coordinating minister of Health and Social Welfare, disclosed these when he featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

japa syndrome
Advertisements
MTN ADS
doctors

Pate, who said the brain drain syndrome has robbed the health sector of its best hands, affirmed that the government is doing its best to expand the training scheme and motivate others who chose to stay back and serve their fatherland.

The brain drain phenomenon, otherwise known as ‘Japa’, has seen a generation of young doctors, health workers, tech entrepreneurs and a number of professionals abandoned Nigeria for greener pasture abroad.

But the minister reiterated that though there are 300,000 health professionals in Nigeria, only 55,000 of them are doctors.

In his words, “There are about 300,000 health professionals working in Nigeria today in all cadres. I am talking about doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory scientists and others. We did an assessment and discovered we have 85,000 to 90,000 registered Nigerian doctors. Not all of them are in the country. Some are in the Diaspora, especially in the US and UK. But there are 55,000 licensed doctors in the country.

“The issue overall, in terms of health professionals, is that they are not enough. They are insufficient in terms of the skills mix. Can you believe most of the high skilled professional doctors are in Lagos, Abuja and a few urban centres? There is a huge distribution issue.

“The population of doctor overall is about 7,600 doctors in Lagos and 4,700 or thereabout in Abuja. The doctor to population ratio in Abuja is 14.7 per 10,000 population. These are numbers that you can verify. In Lagos, it is about 4.6, even though the average is 2.2 by 10,000.

“There are huge distributional issues and they are, of course, the opportunities even for some of those who have been trained to get into the market. So you have to look at it from a perspective that is holistic. Not only doctors but other cadres that are important in the delivery of health care. For doctors, we have been losing many that have been trained.”

Continuing, Pate emphasised that since the oxygen of any serious health sector is its human resource, Nigeria cannot afford to continue losing its best brains to the developed countries.

He however admitted that the Japa syndrome is a global phenomenon that equally affects other countries like India and Pakistan.

According to him, the country has lost about 16,000 doctors to brain drain in the past five years.

“Now to the Japa you talked about, it is not only limited to Nigeria. It is a global phenomenon. Other countries don’t have enough. They are asking to take more. It is not only in Nigeria. It is happening in India, Philippines and other parts of Africa. In the last five years, we have lost about 15,000 to 16,000 and about 17,000 had been transferred. We’re barely managing. That’s why expanding their training will become logical. The same thing with nurses and midwives; they are also leaving. That’s why expanding the training is important to ensure those still around are well trained.

“But there are also thousands more, which is what I was trying to hint at, who are here. And despite the opportunity to travel abroad did not leave and we don’t appreciate them. I’ll give you an example. The head of the ICU at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, a very brilliant gentleman. I met him in December and he said, ‘Four of my colleagues have left’ and I asked to know why he has not left. He said ‘Look, this is my country. I want to serve because health is a sector where there’s inherent motivation in those who select to go in there.’ People don’t just go in there because they want to have a job. They go because they’re intrinsically motivated and we have to recognise and tap into that.

“We are beginning to take steps to expand the training and work environment, taking some steps to encourage salaries and incomes commission to do certain things that will encourage them to feel at home. But even the issue of working hours that has come about recently, particularly for the junior doctors, is being addressed.”

“We are beginning to take steps to expand the training and work environment, taking some steps to encourage salaries and incomes commission to do certain things that will encourage them to feel at home. But even the issue of working hours that has come about recently, particularly for the junior doctors, is being addressed. This is because when some of their colleagues leave and they remain at home, the burden has not reduced. And so they work extremely hard. We’ve listened to that. We are looking at how we can alleviate that and with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, we are looking at how within the code of ethics and the guidelines for the physician to provide some safeguards to ensure they are treated as valuable assets so they are not burnt out,” he said.

Loading

Author

  • Techeconomy
    Techeconomy

    View all posts
0Shares
Tags: Doctorsjapa syndrome
Techeconomy

Techeconomy

Next Post
Aisha Dahir-Umar, DG, National Pension Commission (PenCom)

PenCom Reacts to Claims It Loaned FG N10tn

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recommended

NIPOST Seeks Lagos Partnership on E-commerce, Logistics Operations

NIPOST Seeks Lagos Partnership to Strengthen E-commerce, Logisitcs Operations

5 months ago
EAAIF

EAAIF Acts as Sole Impact Investor, Anchors Africell’s Debut Issuance of $300 million Int’l Bond 

8 months ago

Popular News

    Connect with us

    • About
    • Advertise
    • Careers
    • Contact Us

    © 2025 TECHECONOMY.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • News
    • Tech
      • DisruptiveTECH
      • ConsumerTech
      • How To
      • TechTAINMENT
    • Business
      • Telecoms
      • Mobility
      • Environment
      • Travel
      • StartUPs
        • Chidiverse
      • TE Insights
      • Security
    • Partners
    • Economy
      • Finance
      • Fintech
      • Digital Assets
      • Personal Finance
      • Insurance
    • Features
      • IndustryINFLUENCERS
      • Guest Writer
      • EventDIARY
      • Editorial
      • Appointment
    • TECHECONOMY TV
    • Apply
    • TBS
    • BusinesSENSE For SMEs

    © 2025 TECHECONOMY.

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password?

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In
    Translate »
    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.