A recent report has revealed that a staggering 3,173 Nigerian-trained nurses and midwives were granted licenses to practice in the United Kingdom within a span of just one year, from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.
This data, obtained from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), highlights the ongoing trend of Nigerian healthcare professionals seeking opportunities abroad.
The report further discloses that a total of 13,656 nurses and midwives educated in Nigeria are currently practicing in the UK.
As of March 31, 2024, the NMC register listed a total of 826,418 nursing and midwifery professionals, with Nigerian-trained professionals making up a significant portion of this number.
This mass migration of Nigerian healthcare professionals to the UK underscores the persistent “japa” phenomenon, where many Nigerian experts are leaving the country in search of better opportunities, leading to a brain drain in the Nigerian healthcare sector.
“Of this number, 13,656 were educated in Nigeria. In the 12 months to March 31, 2024, 3,173 people who were educated in Nigeria joined our register for the first time.”
The NMC is the regulator for nursing and midwifery in the UK and it maintains a register of all nurses, midwives, and specialist community public health nurses and nursing associates eligible to practise in the UK.
According to the report, Nigeria is one of the top non-UK countries of education as of March 2024, and the number of Nigerian nurses and midwives practising in the UK increased by 28.3 per cent in one year.
Other top non-UK countries of education as of March 2024, compared to last year are India (62,413), Philippines (49,092), Romania (7,378), and Ghana (5,536).
In 2023, the World Health Organisation said Nigeria and 54 other countries were facing the most pressing health workforce challenges related to universal health coverage.
WHO said with the impact of COVID-19 and widespread disruptions to health services, health workers in the identified countries continued to seek better-paid opportunities in wealthier nations.
The WHO said of the 55 countries, 37 are in Africa, eight are in the Western Pacific region, six are in the Eastern Mediterranean region, three are in Southeast Asia and one is in the Americas.
Thereafter, the UK government on March 23 placed Nigeria and 53 other countries on the red list of countries that should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers.
However, the NMC report stated that the number of first-time joiners across the UK continued to rise, with nearly 60,000 new nursing and midwifery professionals registering with it this year alone.
It added that the figures were split almost equally between UK-educated joiners (30,363) and those educated internationally (29,628).
It stated, “The year-on-year growth was even higher among international joiners, which shows an increase of more than 18 per cent compared to the previous year. Almost half (14,615) of this year’s new joiners were educated in India.”
In 2023, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives said over 75,000 nurses and midwives left the country in five years to seek greener pastures.
The mass exodus of nurses has worsened an ongoing shortage of health workers, and poses significant threats to the healthcare delivery system, leading to limited access to care for many people.
