Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Ondo State chapter, also lamented the mass exodus of medical doctors and other health professionals.
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has lamented the mass exodus of medical professionals from Nigeria to Western countries including the US, UK, and Canada.
Sowore on Friday said that despite the fact that health workers in Nigeria’s health sector are insufficient, no fewer than 8,000 medical professionals from the country have moved to foreign countries in the last three years.
The #RevolutionNow convener on his Twitter page also berated the Nigerian government for shutting down universities across the country for about six months now over its failure to meet the demands of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
He said, “Some 8,000 medical professionals have left Nigeria in the last 3 years, this is brain drain afflicting a nation already struggling with insufficient hands in the health sector, but wicked Nigerian leaders have closed down universities for six months now with no resolution in sight.”
In December 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, as saying, “The flight of doctors and nurses to other continents has resulted in a significant gap between the required treatments for NCDs and the available treatments and care.”
In July this year, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Ondo State chapter, also lamented the mass exodus of medical doctors and other health professionals from the state to foreign countries, as some of the health professionals identified irregular payment of salaries as one of the major factors contributing to the issue.