50,000 Nigerian Doctors Practising Abroad, Says Association

President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Professor Bala Mohammed Audu, has disclosed that over 50,000 Nigerian doctors are practicing outside the country, just as he said medical tourism was draining doctors within.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to Kalapanzi Barracks in Kaduna, the NMA president lauded the Nigerian military, especially the army, for putting their lives on the frontline in defense of the nation.

While commending the military’s war against terrorists, he urged doctors to join the military.

He said, “There seems to be more Nigerian doctors outside the shores of this country than there are within the country. Which means we are talking about over 50,000 doctors practicing outside the country. This makes it possible because of the quality of doctors that Nigeria trains.

“Nigerian doctors are leaving the shores of this country and going elsewhere but you find countries come to Nigeria to actually recruit the doctors and take them out, even when they don’t apply to go out. But having said that, there is also an internal migration within the system, within Nigeria, that is doctors moving from one institution to another where their welfare is better taken care of. And in this angle, we must praise the military.

“The troops who invariably put their lives in front on behalf of each and every one of us in this country also receive health care even when in the frontline and of course also within the military facilities. Suffice it to say also that all over the world, the military actually forms one of the frontline research areas in medicine” he added.

Audu, who rated the Kalapanzi Barracks medical facility as excellent, stated that, “It’s like a five-star hotel, you won’t think this was a hospital setting, it’s very neat and well-organised department by department in such a way that it makes it very ambient for any person who is sick who comes in to immediately feel an aura of wellness”

Responding, the Commanding Officer of 312 Artillery Regiment Kalapanzi Barracks, Lieutenant Colonel I.J. Ufua, said, “I also want to stand and say okay we are grateful and then we continue to look forward to partnering with you and also ensuring that the collaboration is being deepened since the country went into this counter-terrorism and counter insurgency operations.”