Prof. Taiwo Obindo, President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), has disclosed that no fewer than 100 psychiatric doctors have left the country to practice abroad in the past year.
Speaking with the newsmen on Thursday, Prof. Obindo examined the alarming rate of brain drain affecting the psychiatric profession in Nigeria in 2023.
He emphasized that the psychiatric profession is the worst hit by this exodus, noting that the phenomenon is not limited to doctors but also includes psychiatric nurses, other caregivers and health workers in the field.
“For every five psychiatric doctors trained in Nigeria, three leave the country to practice abroad,” Obindo lamented, highlighting the severity of the situation.
The exodus and brain drain
Obindo attributed this trend to the inability of the country to maintain, retain, and sustain its medical personnel despite having the necessary training facilities.
“Having a psychiatric qualification, experience, or certificate is almost like a visa on its own because medical institutions abroad are actively seeking such personnel and are ready to offer them attractive remuneration,” he noted.
The APN President further stated that while the exact number of those who have left might be elusive, he could categorically confirm that more than 100 trained psychiatric doctors have migrated abroad in the last year alone.
“I can categorically state that more than 100 trained psychiatric doctors have left to practise abroad in the last one year.”
“As I am speaking to you now, one psychiatric practitioner somewhere is either leaving or planning to leave the country to practice abroad. It is as rampant and bad as that,” Obindo stressed.
Dr. Olugbenga Owoeye, Medical Director of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, also highlighted the impact of brain drain on their facility.
He explained that the hospital is focused on training and retraining more psychiatric doctors to fill the gaps created by the continuous migration of their practitioners.
“The brain drain has led to a drastic reduction in manpower, particularly psychiatric doctors and nurses,” Owoeye stated.
What you should know
In response to the brain drain, the hospital has trained no fewer than 90 consultant psychiatric doctors and nurses who are now practising both within Nigeria and abroad.
“We have resolved to be training more doctors to fill the gaps created by this exodus,” Owoeye said, adding that the hospital’s efforts include upgrading facilities and providing modern equipment to encourage health workers to stay.
The hospital has renovated its drug rehabilitation centre, provided intensive care units, and established a new, functional stand-alone molecular laboratory to support the operations of its doctors.
Owoeye expressed optimism that the migration trend would eventually cease.
“With time, this movement will become saturated and stop,” he predicted, drawing parallels to the migration wave to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s, which eventually subsided as practitioners returned home.
He concluded with a hopeful note, stating that those who have left will eventually return, whether due to age, retirement, or other reasons. “The trending brain drain will certainly stop someday, and the Nigerian personnel who left the country will return home,” Owoeye affirmed.