Over 4,600 Nigerian doctors relocate to UK in three years – Report

Nigeria’s already fragile healthcare system is facing renewed strain as no fewer than 4,691 doctors have relocated to the United Kingdom since President Bola Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, fresh data from the General Medical Council shows.

The UK GMC is a public official register detailing the number of practising doctors in the UK alongside other details such as their areas of speciality, country of training, among others.

The mass migration represents not just a human resource crisis but a significant economic loss.

With the Federal Government estimating that it costs about $21,000 to train a single doctor, Nigeria has effectively lost at least $98.5m in training investments within less than two years.

The figure put the total number of Nigeria-trained doctors currently practising in the UK to about 15,692, making Nigeria one of the largest sources of foreign-trained doctors in Britain, second only to India.

As of May 28, 2025, official records showed that the number of Nigerian-trained doctors in the UK was a little over 11,000. The figure has grown significantly since then.

The exodus of doctors comes as Nigeria’s doctor-to-population ratio hovers around 3.9 per 10,000 people, far below the minimum threshold recommended by the World Health Organisation.

For many health experts, the numbers confirm what has long been visible: a system gradually losing its most critical workforce.

The Nigerian Medical Association has repeatedly warned that poor remuneration, unsafe working conditions, and inadequate infrastructure are pushing doctors out of the country.

“Our members are overworked, underpaid and exposed to unsafe environments daily. Many are simply burnt out,” the NMA said in one of its recent statements addressing workforce migration.

Similarly, the National Association of Resident Doctors has consistently highlighted the toll on younger doctors, who form the backbone of Nigeria’s tertiary healthcare system.

“Doctors are leaving because the system is failing them—irregular salaries, excessive workload, and lack of training opportunities,” NARD noted during one of its nationwide engagements.

Ironically, the doctor exodus persists even as Nigeria continues to spend heavily on healthcare abroad.

While official foreign exchange data shows only modest spending on medical tourism in recent years, broader estimates suggest Nigerians still spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually seeking treatment overseas.

For instance, a recent report by The PUNCH revealed that foreign exchange outflow for health-related travel by Nigerians surged to $549.29m in the first nine months of 2025, a 17.96 per cent increase from $465.67m in the same period of 2024, according to official data by Nigeria’s apex bank.

A public health expert, Dr David Adewole, noted that the Federal Government’s national policy on health workforce migration, aimed at curbing the growing trend of health professionals leaving the country—commonly referred to as ‘Japa’—is a good initiative, but may not do much to address the fundamental problems of the shortage of skilled healthcare professionals in Nigeria, particularly in rural and underserved areas.

According to him, many of the push factors for health professionals emigrating to greener pastures, like insecurity, emolument and lack of basic amenities like potable water, health facilities, cost of living and constant electricity, persisted.

He stated: “To make healthcare workers stay here, let the salaries be enough so that what you earn will be much more than the multiples of what you need for basic needs, like food, power supply, housing, and so forth.

“People still look at life after retirement. You might have a good policy, but its implementation is the issue. For example, you are retired, and for your retirement package, you don’t need to know anyone for it to be processed promptly.

“Then subsequently, your monthly pension, without pressing anybody, should be paid. Those things are not here.

“And when you go to the hospital abroad, if you tell them that you are in a hurry, you go to your home; they’ll bring the medicines to your doorstep.”