The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has lamented the rate of Japa amongst medical practitioners and stated that the doctor-patient ratio in the country is deteriorating.
Bala Audu, President of the NMA, stated this at an interactive session with the media in Abuja on Wednesday, noting that the doctor-patient ratio is almost 1,000 percent lower than the World Health Organization standard.
Audu stated: “The doctor-patient ratio is about 1,000 per cent less than what the World Health Organisation recommended. Recently, there was a medical school that graduated its medical students and I think they did a survey and asked the new graduates if they would stay or prefer to leave. Your guess is as good as mine. It’s something that is worsening, but it is something that we can mitigate.
“And I think that is the essence of such interactive forums, not to keep crying about our problems, but to profile solutions to these problems,” Audu stated.
Many Nigerian healthcare workers have left the country in search of greener pastures, and experts have expressed concern about the rising emigration rate. According to them, the main factors are inadequate equipment, increased insecurity, bad working conditions, and a low salary structure.
The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria reported that between 2019 and 2023, around 1,056 consultants left the country in search of greener pastures.
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors also disclosed that over 900 of its members fled for Europe between January and September 2023.
