Ngige, Faduyile Disagree On Brain Drain, Migration Of Nigerian Doctors

Channels Tv

Doctor Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment and the President of the Nigerian Medical Association are not on the same wavelength regarding the critical issue of brain drain and migration of Nigerian doctors. 

Ngige in an interview on Wednesday said contrary to the impression that the country is losing, the movement of the doctors abroad is actually attracting investment into the country.

Doctor Ngige who was a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast program, Sunrise Daily, said the mass exodus of doctors from Nigeria is not a thing so much a thing to lose sleep about, in that the nation has medical practitioners in excess.

“I’m Not Worried, We Have Surplus (Doctors), if we have a surplus, we export. I was taught Biology and Chemistry by Indian teachers in my secondary school days.

“They are surplus in their country. We have a surplus in the medical profession in our country. I can tell you this. It is my area, we have excess. We have enough, more than enough, quote me,” Ngige said.

However, the President of the Nigeria Medical Association, Doctor Francis Faduyile disagrees with the position of the labour minister. Doctor Faduyile notes emphatically that the country’s doctor to patient ratio is grossly poor, citing poor welfare and infrastructure deficit as some of the reasons for medical brain drain.