The Mass Exodus Of Doctors: Who Will Operate My Cataract?

The atmosphere at the polling unit in my area was very calm and peaceful during the last Presidential elections. Most people were skeptical that the elections would hold until the last moment. Out of about 300 people who were at the polling unit, more than 70% were between 20 and 50years of age. I thought to myself, these young people are very powerful and don’t know it. They own this country and if they were united, could decide not only who ruled the country but could actually have lined up behind one of their own.

A few days after, I ran into a crowd of those young fellas discussing in the outcome of the elections. “All of you here present, I am disappointed,” I exclaimed loudly and jokingly, “I lost the Presidential election because you didn’t vote for me?” “Sir, which party is yours?” one of them asked, curious to know if indeed I was a contestant. I quickly explained that I belonged to POP. “Sir, what is POP? There was no party with such a name on the ballot,” he said. I replied that it was indeed true that POP was not on the ballot. It stood for Party of the People. Its manifesto is its slogan, “Educate the people and make healthcare easier for all.”  “Sir, if you had campaigned, we would have voted for you!” I told them I have been campaigning on this page every week and at every opportunity with nobody listening to me!  Then, I added, “As a punishment for all of you who didn’t vote for me, I will ensure you’re all deported to USA.” I didn›t know I had stirred the hornets’ nest as all echoed in unison, “Please do so now. We can’t wait to be deported to USA or Europe – any place outside Nigeria!”

I was shocked at their response. For them it was no joke. They meant it. The ambition of all our young men and women right now is to ‘Ship out’ of Nigeria. Several days later, I received a greater shock. I read on one of the doctors’ platforms, that 1000+ medical doctors recently attended the interview for job placements in Saudi Arabia at a popular hotel in Lagos. As if to increase my anguish, Mazi Chima Amadi had tweeted a few days earlier that “In two weeks’ time, March 14, 2019 6,244 Nigerian Medical Doctors will be writing the UK PLAB 1 exams as a first step towards leaving our country to practise medicine in the UK.» I was crestfallen! I have friends, former students and residents, nephews, nieces and colleagues in the medical profession scattered all over the world in search of greener pastures.

I went through my files and was able to retrieve the following piece, written by Dr. Tony Marinho, on November 1, 2017, quoting, Attah Essien. “Very soon Nigerians will go to Government hospitals and won›t see a Doctor. The health crisis in Nigeria is unprecedented as the mass exodus hits alarming proportions. Already it takes a patient 2 hours to see a doctor on the average, 3 hours for new patients.

1. Over 100 doctors have resigned from UCH this year.
2. 800 Doctors have resigned from Lagos State hospitals over two years. 100 this month alone.
3. Kebbi State has been unable to employ a single doctor in two years despite multiple adverts for employment.
4. Over 200 doctors and nurses have resigned from Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital this year.
5. Nigerian has 80,000 registered medical doctors. More than 50,000 are practicing abroad
6. 92 per cent of Nigerian doctors in Nigeria are considering finding a job abroad
7. 70 per cent of Nigerian doctors are making plans to leave for foreign lands and are taking exams to that effect 
8. 236 doctors wrote primaries for West Africa College of Physicians in 2017 to gain admission to Nigerian teaching hospitals for postgraduate training. Five years ago over 1000 wrote the same exams. 660 wrote PLAB to practise in the UK over the primaries exam. Over 1000 have registered for the next PLAB.

Across the nation the story is the same. And the scary part is no one seems to be bothered.”

Yes, Tony, no one seems to be bothered! Even the consumers, who had a unique opportunity to make demands during the electioneering campaigns kept quiet. That’s what happens when a sore is left unattended. It festers, eats deeper and deeper into the tissues, eventually revealing the bones. Who will operate my cataract? Who will save me from an agonising death from cancer? Who will help unblock my blocked urinary tract so I can pass urine freely? Who will save the accident victims from complications and death from even flimsy injuries? 

Fortunately or unfortunately, if things should continue at this rate, most of us would die from simple infections treated with fake drugs, or from undetected or poorly treated hypertension and diabetes before some of the very challenging age related medical problems develop. The doctors who remain in the country would be left to carry the burden of the society›s collective guilt.