UK’s ban on recruitment of Nigerian doctors
The recruitment of Nigerian doctors and other health workers by the United Kingdom (UK) recruitment agencies has been placed on hold until there is an agreement on ‘managed recruitment’ between Nigeria and UK authorities. A recent report shows that Nigeria is among 54 countries affected by the temporary ban on recruitment of foreign doctors and other health workers by the UK.
The 54 countries were those which the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently adjudged as having urgent health and care workforce-related challenges. Apart from Nigeria, other countries on the UK red list of ‘no active recruitment’ are Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. The rest include Chad, Comoros, Congo, Ghana, Gabon, Guinea and Haiti.
The UK code of practice stipulates that ‘countries on the list should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers, recruitment organisations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place to allow managed recruitment undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of that agreement.’ It also says that ‘countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list are graded red in the code. If a government-to-government is put in place between a partner country, which restricts recruiting organisations and the terms of agreement, the country is added to the amber list.’
However, it is not clear if the ban forbids individuals from seeking employment in the UK health institutions on their own without any reference to the recruitment agencies. Apart from the UK, Nigerian healthcare professionals work in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, South Africa, Germany and others. There may likely be a link between the UK restriction on employment of foreign doctors and the Federal Government’s move to curb the rising brain drain in the health sector.
Mr. Ganiyu Johnson, representing Oshodi/Isolo Federal Constituency 2 of Lagos State, recently sponsored the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act (Amendment) Bill, which, when passed into law, will compel medical and dental graduates to offer five years of compulsory service in Nigeria before being granted licence to practice. Johnson believes that the Bill, when it becomes law, will address the crisis in the nation’s health sector occasioned by unrestricted migration of Nigerian doctors and other health workers to the UK and other countries.
No doubt, brain drain is a major challenge in Nigeria’s health care delivery system. The dearth of many healthcare experts is a present danger to the health care system, which must be tackled without further delay. But the problem cannot be solved with the bill as proposed by Johnson.
It is good that the anti-migration bill has been vehemently opposed by doctors and other health workers and their counterparts working in diaspora. They contend that the bill, which is against the right of Nigerian doctors to move and work anywhere they like, just like other Nigerian professionals such as engineers, pharmacists, IT specialists, teachers, is discriminatory and will not address the challenges in the health sector. At best, the bill is addressing the symptoms and leaving the disease.
For our health care professionals to be retained at home, the triggers of the brain drain must be holistically addressed. Without addressing them, nothing, not even a bill, will stop the migration of Nigerian doctors to UK and other countries. Some of the challenges facing the health sector include obsolete medical equipment, poor welfare packages, lack of conducive working environment, insecurity, limited job opportunities and lack of sub-specialty training. Another major trigger of brain drain is the medical tourism by our political office holders and their families.
There is need for a law to compel our political elite and their families to access health care services in Nigeria instead of doing so in UK, US and other foreign countries. Just like the education sector, the government should go beyond the present paltry allocation of about five per cent of our national budget to health.
Some years back, the leaders of African countries met in Abuja and agreed to invest not less than 15 per cent of their national budget to health. Nigeria, which is one of the signatories to the Abuja accord, has not reached that threshold. If it wants to really curb the growing brain drain, let it invest heavily in the sector and allocate at least 15 per cent of its national budget to health.
If our doctors are adequately remunerated like their counterparts abroad, and if our health facilities are well equipped, the migration to foreign countries in search of better conditions of service will reduce. In the past, foreign doctors used to work in Nigeria and even work in remote parts of the country.
But now the reverse is the case as Nigerian doctors are so eager to work abroad. The obnoxious bill, which has passed a second reading in the House of Representatives, should be thrown out. Apart from being self-serving and discriminatory, it is against the rights of certain Nigerians to work abroad.
