Brain drain: Experts urge collaboration with Nigerian medics in diaspora

Medical experts have called for collaboration with Nigerian health workers in the diaspora to address the impact of brain drain in the country’s health system.

They made the call, yesterday, during a webinar, organised by COVIDNigerianMedics, a group made up of Nigerian health workers at home and in the diaspora.

The experts said to ensure ‘Brain circulation’ in health, a transparent and enabling environment must be provided with strong health administrative policy, workable and sincere healthcare financing and improved healthcare spending.

They said others include expanding access to quality medical education to ramp-up healthcare workers’ deficits, and improvement in the ease of doing business for healthcare start-ups and public-private partnership projects, among others.

Brain circulation is a circular mobility of skilled labour across international boundaries. It is a concept to mitigate brain drain in Africa and improve diaspora-Africa cooperation in the field of science and technology.

“Nigeria should explore healthcare brain circulation and enhance knowledge and skills transfer (virtual and physical) among Nigerians at home and in diaspora, and enhance research collaboration and medipreneurship collaboration among Nigerians at home and in diaspora.

“The group also called for improvement in work schedule and remuneration of healthcare workers, as well as improvement in welfare packages of health workers,” they said in the statement issued after the meeting.

Lead speaker of the webinar, Dr. Jameel Ismail Ahmad, a cardiothoracic surgeon/ Senior Lecturer at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and Bayero University Kano in his presentation titled ‘From Brain drain/ Brain gain theory, to brain circulation paradigm; Rethinking the future of health workforce in Nigeria’ said only half of the 74,543 registered Nigerian doctors work in the country.

He said based on the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates of doctor: patient ratio of 1:600, “Nigeria requires more than 300,000 doctors and so there is a doctor deficit of about 260,000, which necessitates producing 10,000 retainable doctors yearly for several years.”

Dr Ahmad said Nigeria with a population of about 200 million has a healthcare budget that is about 3.6% of Nigeria’s GDP, a weak healthcare system, massive infrastructural gap as well as massive brain drain of its healthcare workers.