The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) have dismissed the United Kingdom government’s code of practice for international recruitment of health and social care personnel. According to the NMA and NARD, the UK’s code of practice, which listed Nigeria among 54 other countries where health workers should not be actively recruited, will not stop Nigerian doctors from migrating to other countries.
The UK code of practice stated that the 54 countries were those recognised by the World Health Organisation as having the most pressing health and care workforce-related challenges. The code further stated 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.
Reacting to the restriction, the NMA President, Dr Uche Ojinmah, in an interview with The PUNCH, said Nigerian doctors migrate to other countries because they are poorly treated by the government. He added that the freedom of movement is a fundamental right that cannot be taken away.
Similarly, the President of the NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, said doctors can go to other countries to practise their profession. He added that even with the list, doctors can still apply to work in the UK.
The restriction by the UK comes amid a bill in the House of Representatives seeking to impose a five-year compulsory service on doctors as a condition to grant them full practice licence upon graduation. The NARD’s President called on the Federal Government to improve the working conditions of health workers and fund the health sector to discourage migration. He explained that the government should increase the production capacity so that even when foreign countries come for doctors, nurses, and other health workers, it will turn it to an advantage, improve on training, infrastructure, personnel, and fund health, so that it will not be complaining to foreign countries to stop encroaching on its medical workforce.
Nigeria has the third highest number of foreign doctors working in the UK after India and Pakistan, with currently 11,055 Nigerian-trained doctors in the UK. The NMA and NARD have said that the UK’s code of practice cannot stop Nigerian doctors from migrating to other countries as the freedom of movement is a fundamental right. They urged the Federal Government to improve the working conditions of health workers and fund the health sector to discourage migration.