No fewer than 100 psychiatric physicians have left Nigeria to practice abroad in the last year 2023.
Prof. Taiwo Obindo, President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) revealed this on Thursday in Lagos while examining the brain drain rate in Nigeria’s psychiatric profession in 2023.
Obindo lamented that the psychiatric profession was the worst hit by ongoing brain drain syndrome in the Nigerian medical sector.
“The brain drain was affecting the psychiatric practice/profession more than other professions in terms of the psychiatric nurses; psychiatric doctors including all other caregivers and health workers in the field.
“Having a psychiatric qualification, experience or certificate was a visa on its own because medical institutions abroad were looking for such personnel and were ready to offer them good/enticing remuneration.
“Many practitioners in the psychiatric field have left the country to practice abroad; though the exact figure may not be there.
“But, I can categorically state that more than 100 trained psychiatric doctors have left to practice abroad in the last year.
“In fact, for every five psychiatric doctors trained in Nigeria, three out of them leave the country to practice abroad.
“As I am talking to you now, one psychiatric practitioner somewhere is leaving or planning to leave the country to practice abroad, and it is as rampant and bad as that.
“For every five psychiatric doctors trained in Nigeria, three of them leave the country to practice abroad.
“The country had the requisites to train medical personnel, but could not maintain, retain, and sustain them,” he said.
On his part, the Medical Director of Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital Yaba, Dr Olugbenga Owoeye, said the hospital concentrated on training and retraining more psychiatric doctors to close the vacuum created by the constant migration of practitioners overseas.
Owoeye said the hospital had trained no fewer than 90 consultant psychiatric doctors and nurses, who were practicing in different states of the country and abroad.
“Brain drain is affecting the psychiatric practice/profession more than other professions in terms of the psychiatric doctors including all other caregivers and health workers in the field.
“To this end, we have resolved to train more doctors to fill the gaps and vacuum created as a result of the exodus of the doctors.
“So far, not less than 90 consultant psychiatrists have been trained by the hospital,” he said.
Owoeye expressed optimism that the migration of health workers to other countries to practice would come to an end.
“One thing to note is that with time, this movement will become saturated and it will stop.
“I can recall that sometimes in the 80s, a lot of people were migrating to Saudi Arabia in search of greener pastures; now most of them are back home; they are old and are retiring.
“So also the trending brain drain; it will certainly stop someday; the Nigerian personnel who left the country will return home either as a result of age, retirement or one issue or the other,” he said.
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