The Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has urged the Federal Government to intervene in the increasing mass exodus of medical doctors from the country.

The association noted that with inadequate number of doctors to patients in the country, coupled with the current strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), any further drop in the healthcare workforce will only spell doom for the country.

On Tuesday, over 500 Nigerian doctors attended the recruitment by the Saudi Health Ministry to pick doctors for jobs in Saudi Arabia.

Among the specialties Saudi Arabia was looking to recruit in Nigeria are: anesthesia/ICU, internal medicine, paediatrics, surgery, family medicine, opthalmology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopaedics, radiology, hematology, histopathology, and otorhinolaryngology.

Speaking with The Nation, MDCAN President, Prof. Kenneth Ozoilo, said Nigeria had roughly 5,000 medical consultants.

The union leader said if at least 500 medical consultants leave, the country would lose about 10 per cent of its medical consultants.

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He said: “As an organisation, we have been trying to raise the awareness of the country, especially the government, to the effects of brain drain. This is because already, as it is today, our health indices are very poor, if you consider the doctor-to-patient ratio. It is very far from what the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends.

“If you look at the maternal mortality and all other things that are used to assess the health system, ours is very poor.

“Information reaching us indicates that about 500 consultants were interviewed yesterday. This is almost 10 per cent, because by our estimates, there are roughly 5,000 consultants in Nigeria today.

“So, if 500 are going, it means that a good 10 per cent is leaving at a go. There is another similar one in Lagos and it is ongoing. This is, therefore, a serious hemorrhage, like a patient that is bleeding.”

Also, the Enugu State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has urged the Federal Government to withdraw the suit it filed against the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to pave the way for amicable settlement.

Chairman of the branch, Dr. Jude Onyia, said this while addressing reporters in Enugu.

Onyia noted that at no time had court suits brought amicably settlement of industrial disputes.

“For a harmonious settlement to be reached, dialogue is the only answer.

“Resident doctors have remained the main professional workforce in tertiary health institutions in the country. They constitute over 50 per cent of the workforce,” he said.