The General Medical Council (GMC) of Britain has revealed that 805 Nigeria-trained doctors were licensed to work in the United Kingdom between July and December 25, 2021.
This number, 805, brings the total number of Nigerian-trained doctors in the UK to 9,189.
The total figure 9,189 excludes the number of Nigerians who trained as doctors in UK institutions or UK citizens of Nigerian descent who trained and are practising there.
The GMB, which is the regulatory body responsible for licensing doctors for practice in the UK, said that as at June, 2021, 8,384 Nigerian doctors had been licensed while the number of Nigeria-trained specialists and consultants who migrate have continued to increase over the years.
According to the data by the British agency, 233 Nigerian doctors passed the examination to practise in the UK in 2015.
The number increased to 279 in 2016 while the figure was 475 in 2017.
In 2018, the figure rose to 852 and further increased to 1,347 in 2019.
According to the data, 1,968 of the doctors were currently undergoing training, 1,560 were general practitioners, 1,231 were specialists and a total of 4,652 were associate specialists.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, in a bid to curb brain drain among Nigeria’s medical doctors, proposed during his 2021 budget defence that there should be a bond of nine years for health workers before they are allowed t emigrate for greener shores.