Following the exodus of health professionals to hospitals and health facilities abroad, the Federal Government has disclosed that Nigeria now has 55,000 licensed doctors attending to the growing population of patients.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate, disclosed these when he featured as a guest on a television program.
He 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.
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 minister reiterated that though there are 300,000 health professionals in Nigeria, only 55,000 of them are doctors.
He said based on an assessment, it was discovered that out of the 85,000 to 90,000 registered Nigerian doctors, not all of them are in the country as some are in the Diaspora, especially in the US and UK.
Pate emphasised 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.