Angela Onwuzoo The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, has given reasons why no fewer than 67 per cent of Nigerian doctors practise in the United Kingdom. Pate said Nigerian-trained doctors and nurses were in high demand worldwide because Nigerians are very vibrant, entrepreneurial, and very capable wherever they are.
The minister stated that the National Health Service in the UK would struggle if Nigerian doctors withdrew from the scheme. Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday, monitored by our correspondent, Pate proposed that countries hiring Nigerian health workers, like the UK, should expand pre-service education programmes in Nigeria to balance the migration of professionals with local training efforts. The minister said, “The UK will need Nigerian doctors.
67 per cent of our doctors go to the United Kingdom, and 25 per cent of the NHIS workforce is Nigerian. “The recruitment countries that recruit our professionals; should they not have some responsibilities to help us expand the training? Because the strain of health workers’ migration is continuous, it’s not going to stop tomorrow. “Does the UK, for instance, want to consider expanding the pre-service education? Can we have corridors that allow us to have a compact that ‘you’ll take so but you will also help us train more so you will replace them’? That is in the realm of health diplomacy and ethical replacement.
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