The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has revealed a concerning decline in the number of medical consultants in the country, with only 6,000 remaining as of February 2024.
Disclosing this during the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Ilorin yesterday, MDCAN President, Prof. Muhammad Mohammad, outlined the alarming trend, noting that 1,300 consultants have left Nigeria in the last five years due to the ‘Japa’ syndrome — a phenomenon where professionals migrate for better opportunities abroad.
Mohammad highlighted that with an aging workforce, the situation is set to worsen. “Around 1,700 consultants are over 55, meaning that within the next five years, they’ll retire, further depleting our healthcare workforce,” he said.
He further stressed that the country is struggling to produce enough replacements, with only one or two new consultants trained annually, making it impossible to offset the ongoing losses from both emigration and retirement.
“So you can see that the replacement cannot keep up with the loss from ‘Japa’ syndrome and from retirement,” he said.
Recall that the Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) of University Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres (FMCs) on Tuesday raised the alarm that tertiary hospitals are facing threats of becoming empty as doctors, nurses and other skilled health workers leave in droves due to poor remunerations.
