Faced with sky-high inflation, low salaries and an overstretched healthcare system, doctors and nurses are leaving Nigeria in their thousands every year for better opportunities abroad.
Between 15 000 and 16 000 doctors have departed in the past five years, according to Nigeria’s health minister, Muhammad Ali Pate. The country has just 55 000 doctors for a population of 220 million, he said.
The exodus of healthcare workers has heaped extra strain on those who stay, and made choices tough for students thinking about their future.
On his way to the Lagos State University College of Medicine, second-year medical student Hassan Adewunmi said he was reluctantly prepared to find work elsewhere after graduating.
“The elites prefer to seek treatment abroad rather than in Nigeria, and that says a lot about the state of hospitals in the country,” Adewunmi said.
“And we ask why doctors and nurses don’t want to stay.”….more