In recent years, Nigeria has witnessed a surge in a phenomenon colloquially known as “Japa Syndrome.” The term “Japa” derives from Nigerian slang, meaning to escape or flee, often to seek a perceived better life abroad.
The UK, US, Canada, and Australia have become preferred destinations for Nigerians exploring available routes to leave the country in search of the ‘greener pasture,’ particularly among skilled workers cutting across key sectors like health, IT, education, arts, and many others.
Nigerian medical practitioners are also part of the people who have left the shores of the country as the Federal Government recently disclosed that 55,000 licensed doctors are in the country to attend to the growing population of patients following the exodus of health professionals to hospitals and health facilities abroad.
It said in the last five years, the country lost about 15,000 to 16,000 doctors to the Japa syndrome while about 17,000 had been transferred.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate, disclosed these when he was featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Pate, who said the brain drain syndrome has robbed the health sector of its best hands, affirmed that the government is doing its best to expand the training scheme and motivate others who chose to stay back and serve their fatherland.
The brain drain phenomenon, otherwise known as ‘Japa’, which has become the order of the day has seen a generation of young doctors, health workers, tech entrepreneurs, and several professionals abandon Nigeria for greener pastures abroad.
However, the minister reiterated that though there are 300,000 health professionals in Nigeria, only 55,000 of them are doctors.
He said, “About 300,000 health professionals are working in Nigeria today in all cadres. I am talking about doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, and others. We did an assessment and discovered we have 85,000 to 90,000 registered Nigerian doctors. Not all of them are in the country. Some are in the Diaspora, especially in the US and UK. But there are 55,000 licensed doctors in the country.
“The issue overall, in terms of health professionals, is that they are not enough. They are insufficient in terms of the skills mix. Can you believe most of the highly skilled professional doctors are in Lagos, Abuja, and a few urban centers? There is a huge distribution issue.
“The population of doctors overall is about 7,600 doctors in Lagos and 4,700 or thereabout in Abuja. The doctor-to-population ratio in Abuja is 14.7 per 10,000 population. These are numbers that you can verify. In Lagos, it is about 4.6, even though the average is 2.2 by 10,000.
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“There are huge distributional issues and they are, of course, the opportunities even for some of those who have been trained to get into the market. So you have to look at it from a holistic perspective. Not only doctors but other cadres that are important in the delivery of health care. For doctors, we have been losing many that have been trained.”
Continuing, Pate emphasized that since the oxygen of any serious health sector is its human resource, Nigeria cannot afford to continue losing its best brains to the developed countries.
He however admitted that the Japa syndrome is a global phenomenon that equally affects other countries like India and Pakistan.
According to him, the country has lost about 16,000 doctors to brain drain in the past five years while also stating that many health workers chose to remain in Nigeria to serve the country despite the opportunity to move abroad where they are guaranteed better pay and welfare package.
He further emphasized that doctors currently practicing in the country can expect improvements in training opportunities and working conditions. Additionally, efforts are being made to enhance salary structures and income incentives to create a more welcoming environment for medical professionals.
