A ministerial nominee, Dr. Isiak Salako says over half of medical doctors who graduated with him from Lagos medical school in Lagos State in 1992 currently practice medicine outside Nigeria.
The 44th nominee from Ogun State disclosed this when he appeared before the Nigerian Senate screening on Saturday in Abuja.
Salako said, “Brain drain is a very serious problem in Nigeria. There is no doubt about it. Yesterday (Friday), I was checking a Whatsapp platform of colleagues that we graduated from the University of Lagos medical school, close to 50 per cent of us are outside Nigeria.
“We have 105 people on that platform; And out of that 105 people, about 55 of them are outside Nigeria. That is a reflection of the level of the challenge”, Dr Salako said.
The Consultant Physician sued for the need for the government to improve the working condition for doctors and safer work environment to reverse the ugly trends for effective service delivery.
64-year-old former Commissioner for Health in Ogun State who pledged his commitment to contributing to reduction, suggested that a review of the Nigerian medical school training module to encourage medical graduate trainees to be more patriotic.
“I believe that brain drain is more than an economic problem. Each time, we always look at brain drain from a narrow angle.
“If I was asked to pay for my training in the medical school, I would probably have just finish paying the loan. There has to be a policy not necessity forcing people to stay, but encouraging people to stay and practice Nigeria”, the ministerial nominee said.
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