Not less than 162 Nigerian-trained doctors have been licensed to practise in the United Kingdom in the last six weeks.
It was revealed in the register of the General Medical Council of the UK. The GMC is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the UK.
It was gathered that in the last 42 days, the number of Nigerian-trained doctors practising in the UK rose from 10,824 to 10,986.
This implies that at least three Nigerian-trained doctors were licensed per day from February 2 to March 15, 2023.
It was also observed that Nigeria has the third highest number of foreign doctors working in the UK after India (31,979) and Pakistan (18,490).
The President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Emeka Orji, said, “There is a need for a review of the salary structure, and the government needs to work with the medical bodies to resolve their lingering concerns.”
The President of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria, Dr Victor Makanjuola, said the country needed to produce about 12,000 doctors annually to meet the required number of physicians.
Makanjuola said the disturbing analysis revealed that nine out of every 10 medical and dental consultants with less than five years of experience plan to leave the country for greener pastures.
