Nigeria has lost over 16,000 doctors in the past five to seven years, a situation that has cost the country billions of naira, according to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate.
Speaking at the seventh annual capacity-building workshop of the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) in Abuja, Pate, a professor, expressed his concerns about the rising migration of healthcare workers and its significant economic impact on the health sector.
He highlighted that the cost of training a single doctor in Nigeria exceeds $21,000, emphasizing the financial loss associated with losing such a large number of trained professionals to other countries. “This trend is not just about people leaving,” the minister stated. “It represents a fiscal loss. The estimated cost of training one doctor exceeds $21,000, a figure that reflects the scale of public financing walking out of our country.”
Pate also pointed out that Nigeria’s doctor-to-population ratio has fallen to 3.9 per 10,000 people, which is significantly below the World Health Organization’s recommended standard. “In the last five to seven years, more than 16,000 doctors have left Nigeria, with thousands more departing in recent years. The numbers of nurses and midwives have also dwindled. The doctor-to-population ratio now stands at just 3.9 per 10,000—far below the global minimum,” he said.
The minister explained that the exodus of healthcare workers is driven by factors such as better economic opportunities, improved working conditions, access to advanced training, and more supportive research environments abroad.
While acknowledging that the migration of health professionals from developing to developed countries is not a new phenomenon, he noted that it has intensified in recent years, with an increasing number of healthcare workers aspiring to practice outside Nigeria.
