Olanipekun decries increasing number of Nigerian medical practitioners practising overseas 

A renowned lawyer, Wole Olanipekun has lamented the rate at which registered Nigerian medical doctors leave the shores of the country to practise in foreign countries.

He said the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria was collapsing and also in chaotic and appalling situation.

Olanipekun stated this while delivering the 3rd Founder’s Day Lecture of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo City with the theme; ‘Ethics, Law and Medicine as Foundation for National Development. ‘

The former president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) pointed out that medical practice in the country was undergoing brain drain, adding that government at all levels are not recruiting doctors to take care of teeming patients across hospitals in the country.

“In 2017, the chairman of Lagos branch of the NMA, Olumuyiwa Odusote revealed that about 40,000 of the 75,000 registered medical doctors in Nigeria were practising outside the country, with a rather disturbing caveat that 75 percent of those still in Nigeria were planning to leave,” he said.

According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), “To compound the situation, there has been no major recruitment of doctors, whether by the states or the Federal Government and even those recruited by them only consider their employment as a temporary fix, transitory event if you like, until they can conclude plans to emigrate to favourable climes.”

Olanipekun noted that healthcare delivery system contributes to the national development of developed countries and improved their national revenue.

He urged government at all levels to rescue the health sector by investing in it in order to discourage the increasing migration for treatment of different  ailments by Nigerians, which he said is enhancing revenue in the foreign countries.

“I wonder if the government of Nigeria has bothered to take a stock of how many Nigerians constantly travel out of the country to seek medical attention in any of the countries that have invested heavily in their healthcare delivery systems,” he said.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Friday Okonofua disclosed that UNIMED has recorded a lot of successes since its creation nearly four years ago.

The VC revealed that the university had been listed by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for funding, saying as from 2019 TETFUND projects would begin in the institution.