The President of ARD-FCTA, Dr Nnamdi Nd-Ezuma, who spoke on behalf of the doctors, disclosed that in the past 10 months of 2022, over 1,000 doctors had left the country, leaving a considerable gap in the Nigerian health industry.

He said most doctors in Nigeria are overworked, a situation which is impacting the sector negatively.

“With the theme, “Brain Drain and The Health Sector In Nigeria,” considering the country’s current realities, statistics showed that health is going into a state of emergency.

“We have it on record that we induct 2,000 to 3, 000 doctors annually. In the past 10 months, we have had about 1,000 doctors leaving this country. There is an imbalance between our medical practitioners’ demand and supply ratio. In Nigeria, we are now taking about One doctor to 6,000 or 10,000 patients. We find it critical to talk about the challenge Nigeria’s sector is facing,” he stated.

He lauded the government for addressing health workers’ challenges while calling for comprehensive reform.

“It still needs to be completed, but we can see work in progress on the part of the federal government,” he said.

He added that awareness creation is key to improving Nigeria’s health sector.

“What the association can do best is to cry out because the association can’t employ doctors. It is a global phenomenon, doctors in the UK are leaving for better countries also,” he disclosed.

He further hoped that federal and state governments would do more on the remuneration of doctors, security and other amenities befitting an enabling working environment to hinder the brain drain challenge.