Chris Ngige, minister of labour,
says there is nothing wrong with doctors leaving Nigeria as the country has
“more than enough” medical personnel.
Speaking during a Channels TV
programme on Wednesday, the minister defended the doctors searching for green
pastures elsewhere, saying “if you have surplus, you export.”
Ngige’s comment comes weeks after
Saudi officials stormed Nigeria to recruit medical doctors, an opportunity that
was highly sought for.
One of the programme anchors had
asked him if he was worried about the rate doctors leave Nigeria to which he
responded: “No, I am not worried (about doctors leaving the country). We have
surplus. If you have surplus, you export.
“It happened some years ago here.
I was taught chemistry and biology by Indian teachers in my secondary school
days.
“There are surplus in their
country and we also have surplus in the medical profession in our country. I
can tell you this. In my area, we have excess.
“Who said we don’t have enough
doctors? We have more than enough. You can quote me. There is nothing wrong in
them travelling out.”
Ngige, who himself is a doctor,
added that the medical personnel relocating from Nigeria also contribute to the
country’s foreign exchange earnings, and that some of them do set up medical
centres back home.
He said: “When they go abroad,
they earn money and send them back home here. Yes, we have foreign exchange
earnings from them and not just oil.
“Will you call that brain drain?
I know a couple of them who practise abroad but set up medical centres back
home. They have CAT scan, MRI scan which even the government cannot maintain.
So, I don’t see any loss.”
HOW TRUE IS THE MINISTER’S STATEMENT?
Statistics from the World Health
Organisation (WHO) showed that as of 2013, there were 3.8 doctors for every
10,000 Nigerians, far below the organisations’s recommendation of one doctor to
600 patients.
Recent data from the Medical and
Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) also showed that as of December 2017, Nigeria
had 39,912 registered medical doctors. This means with a population of 193
million in 2016, there was just one medical doctor for every 4,845 Nigerians.
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Imagine the rubbish coming out from a so called minister’s mouth... short man devil
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