Dr. Raymond Kuti, the National President of the Guild of Medical Directors, has raised concerns about the increasing inclination of recently graduated doctors towards non-clinical fields like informatics and medical technology.
This shift in preferences is viewed by Dr. Kuti as potentially exacerbating the existing issue of the significant emigration of medical professionals from the country.
Kuti mentioned, “In all aspects of the health sector, there is a paucity of personnel and this will affect all of us.
“Some of them (newly trained doctors) also realise that coming into clinical medicine is not favourable for them financially and physically. So, they are going into the technology part of medicine, such as informatics. I know two to four of them, who after finishing their mandatory National Youth Service Corps were not looking for jobs, they were going into Artificial Intelligence and how it can be used in medicine such as administrative medicine because they know that this is like working remotely.
“They have become doctors but are not ready to go into the nitty-gritty of medicine again.”
Wakadaily documented the issue of a large number of healthcare professionals leaving the country, resulting in hospitals being understaffed and putting immense pressure on the remaining staff, ultimately leading to burnout.
In a report published in December 2023, it was highlighted that hospitals had to limit outpatient visits and surgeries, and certain hospital wards were forced to shut down due to the scarcity of healthcare workers. The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate, revealed in March that over the past five years, around 16,000 doctors had left the country due to the “japa syndrome.”
This exodus has drastically reduced the number of licensed doctors in the country, with only 55,000 remaining, causing the doctor-to-patient ratio in Lagos and Abuja to drop significantly. Reports suggest that the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia are the preferred destinations for these migrating doctors, with a significant number relocating to the UK in 2023 alone.
Dr. Raymond Kuti expressed concern over the diminishing number of specialist doctors, noting that some doctors leave the country before completing their specialized training. He cautioned that if this trend persists, patients in need of specialized medical care may encounter challenges in accessing the required expertise.
“Doctors who go for exams have totally reduced, I mean close to 40 per cent and about 40 per cent of Nigerian doctors don’t want to specialise again. They prefer to go outside and specialise than to remain in Nigeria. They’ll start all over again there. In fact, some who are in their specialist courses still leave when they still have one to two years to finish.
“We are going to get a large number of patients that will need a lot of professional skills that may not be available again because those on the ground are getting overwhelmed, discouraged and are experiencing burnout. I believe it is high time we call an emergency committee to see how we can resolve this issue, at least for health,” he stated.
Moreover, Kuti emphasized that the “japa syndrome” has led to a shortage of specialists in certain medical departments, necessitating an increased dependence on recently graduated doctors to fulfill staffing needs.
He stated, “I know of a department in a teaching hospital in Nigeria that has one professor and one consultant. All other doctors there are House Officers (Newly graduated doctors undergoing their one-year internship). They don’t have any other group of doctors in that department and that is in a teaching hospital in Nigeria.”
Further lamenting the scarcity of medical officers in private hospitals, he described the situation as “getting to the scary point.”
Kuti highlighted that the technology, legal, and educational fields are encountering comparable difficulties, emphasizing the need for the formation of an urgent committee to devise strategies and alleviate the repercussions of the healthcare workforce shortfall in Nigeria.
