The Nigerian Medical Association and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors have fingered the federal government as the mastermind behind the decision of the United Kingdom government to halt the active recruitment of health workers in Nigeria.
UK had weeks back placed healthcare workers from Nigeria and 53 other countries on the red list of nations not targeted for recruitment citing their declaration by World Health Organisation as places experiencing workforce and facility challenges in their health sectors.
An emigration route favourite with many health practitioners in Nigeria, it has always come under fire of the federal government, with a bill seeking to impose a minimum five-year stay in the country on fresh medical graduates passing second reading in the House of Representatives.
The Nigerian government has a hand in the UK’s decision, according to NMA and NARD, with both tracing its genesis to the meeting between the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and UK’s General Medical Council, GMC, last year.
“I know that last year, the MDCN Registrar went to the GMC and the report we got that time was that they discussed how to mitigate the effect of brain drain in Nigeria.
“This is purely speculative but we believe this was part of what was discussed. We can’t confirm that but it is possible,” NMA President Dr Uche Ojinmah told Punchng.
Ojinmah’s NARD counterpart, Dr Emeka Orji, is on the same page. He told the publication too; “It’s possible the Nigerian government pushed for this (the restriction) but we have not seen any official release to that effect.”
Recall that MDCN Chairman, Prof Abba Waziri; Registrar, Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, and the Head of Department, Registration, Dr Henry Okwukenye met with officials of GMC last year’s October, following which the the health regulatory agency spoke on the meeting via its twitter handle, @MDCNOfficial, “We had a lot of useful discussions amongst which is the possibility of the UK government to repatriate some funds in line with global health initiatives from Nigerian doctors who were trained with tax payers’ funds.
“Discussion around stemming the tide of brain drain also took place.”
