By Muhammad Amaan with agency report
The President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Professor Bala Mohammed Audu, has revealed that Nigeria has now become a direct recruitment ground for foreign governments seeking skilled medical professionals.
Prof. Audu disclosed that international recruiters now travel directly to Nigeria to handpick doctors, particularly specialists such as obstetricians and gynaecologists, offering them far better working conditions and infrastructure than what is currently available in the country.
Speaking exclusively to PUNCH Healthwise, the NMA president lamented that while Nigeria’s population continues to grow and mortality remains alarmingly high, the country is losing specialists at an accelerating rate due to poor working conditions and lack of adequate infrastructure.
He added, “Many of our doctors are not even going abroad to look for jobs. It is the governments of other countries that now come to Nigeria and pack doctors from here and go with them.
“We’re still giving more births, and we are still getting more maternal deaths because the skilled birth attendants who will take care of these pregnant women are decreasing every day.”
Prof. Audu pointed out that in some specialisations, such as paediatrics and obstetrics, the number of Nigerian professionals practising abroad may already outnumber those still working within the country.
He said the situation was worsening due to the Nigerian government’s failure to improve doctors’ welfare, despite existing policies and frameworks that could have helped retain them.
“The government owns the hospitals. The government employs doctors. So, what is the government doing to improve the welfare of doctors so that they can work for them? It’s a very simple thing: two people offer you a job—one is ready to take care of you, the other is not. Whose job will you accept?”
The NMA boss emphasised that while his association continues to raise these concerns, the responsibility lies squarely with the government to implement policies and invest in healthcare infrastructure and personnel welfare.
“All the policies are there, from primary to tertiary healthcare. The only thing that remains is to implement what the policy is intended to achieve,” he added.
He called for increased public awareness, noting that while attention is often focused on the exodus of medical professionals, little is said about the underlying reasons for their departure.
Prof. Audu also stressed the importance of improving maternal care, suggesting that better outcomes for pregnant women can only be achieved through comprehensive healthcare strategies, nutritional support, and equipping health facilities to manage complications.
He warned that unless urgent action is taken, Nigeria risks further deterioration of its healthcare system, especially for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and newborns.
He noted, “It’s about practical engagement between society and healthcare providers, at the level of the community and at the level of the healthcare facility.”
The NMA president urged the government and the public to go beyond rhetoric and take practical steps to reverse the trend before the country faces an irreversible collapse of its maternal and general healthcare systems.
