A at least 85 percent of Nigerian doctors plan to leave the country to seek greener pastures, Sunday PUNCH has learned.

This is according to data obtained from the Nigerian Association of Resident Physicians.

The report also showed that the preferred countries for immigration intentions are the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

NARD members are House Officers, Registrars, Senior Registrars, and Medical Officers below the Chief Medical Officer level.

Speaking to our correspondent, the association’s president, Dr. Emeka, said that if the government does not take action to address the ongoing brain drain in the country, the situation will worsen in the health sector.

“When we say these things, it seems like it’s a joke. Job mobility is acceptable anywhere and what the government should do is address the root causes of physician immigration, as long as they don’t, when they see better opportunities they will want to go there.

“It’s about the decisions people make about themselves when they think the government isn’t looking out for them. The government needs to improve the things that we have highlighted to reduce the brain drain,” she said.

He noted that as of October 2022 there were only 10,000 resident doctors in the country.

“Five months later, and we have no reason to suggest that there is a descending scale of doctors migrating, if anything it should be, it should be an increase in immigration because essentially nothing has changed in terms of working conditions, infrastructure, security and everything. that,” he added.

Based on this figure, it means that 8,500 resident doctors plan to leave the country.

The 2023 Macroeconomic Outlook report released by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group recently said that in addition to the considerable gap in healthcare infrastructure, Nigeria has lost many medical professionals due to brain drain, leading to a insufficient staff in the health sector.

The report stated: “One of the major factors inhibiting Nigeria’s economic development has been the brain drain and knowledge gap in human capital. Knowledge as a significant driver of economies of scale can be increased by investing in education and providing better health services, which is the formation of the nation’s human capital.

“An equipped workforce, a stable economic environment, a thriving private sector, and strong social welfare programs are crucial to achieving shared prosperity in Nigeria.”