NIGERIA lost about 9,000 of its doctors to the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries between 2016 and 2018, the ICIR has found.

The loss left the country with only 4.7 per cent of its doctors as specialists, while the remaining doctors were general practitioners.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of doctors in Nigeria plummeted from 83,565 in 2016 to 74,543 in 2018.

Doctors lost by the country within the period could have doubled, given the steady growth in the doctors' population since 2003.

For instance, between 2005 and 2006, the number of doctors in Nigeria swelled from 39,210 to 49,612.

Similarly, between 2013 and 2016, the population grew from 65,759 to 83,565.

Nigeria's population as of the time of filing this report was 212.8 million. It was 200.9 million in 2019.

According to the WHO, the doctors-to-patient ratio per 10,000 population in Nigeria was 3.81 in 2018.

The WHO reported that the number of doctors in Nigeria was 34,923 in 2003. The figure rose to 39.210 and 49,612 in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Between 2007, 2008 and 2009, the country enjoyed a leap in its doctors' population from 49,612 (in 2006) to 55,376 (2007) and to 58,363, respectively.

By 2013, the number of doctors in the nation had jumped to 65,759.

There were 74,543 doctors in Nigeria in 2018, while only 3,035 of them were specialists, otherwise known as consultants. 

The ICIR reports that Nigeria enjoyed a sustained increase in its doctors since 2003 until the growth ceased between 2016 and 2018. 

The depletion in the country's doctors could result from factors namely: incessant strikes by the nation's health workforce, poor and delayed payment of remuneration, the deplorable state of most public health facilities, tempting wages overseas, policy summersaults by successive governments, poor budgetary allocation to the health sector, inadequate and absence of complementary workforce in hospitals, and inconducive working environment, among others.

This newspaper had reported how the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) embarked on strike for two months between August 2 and October 4 over unmet demands by the government. The strike lasted for 63 days.

The doctors had embarked on a similar strike in April. The strike lasted for 10 days.

Nigerian officials, including President Muhammadu Buhari, prefer getting medical attention abroad to patronising the nation's hospitals.

The ICIR reported in 2018 how the president beat the record of late former President Musa Yar'Adua after he spent 172 days of his first 1,096 days in office, receiving treatment abroad.

The Punch had, in September, reported how the United Kingdom licensed over 200 Nigerian-trained doctors between April and May this year. The newspaper had, in 2020, reported how the number of Nigerian-trained doctors had grown to nearly 8000 in the UK.

The ICIR had, also in August, reported how hundreds of Nigerian-trained doctors thronged the venue of a Saudi Arabia government-sponsored recruitment exercise in Abuja, where the employer needed only seven candidates. 

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