Over 500 specialist doctors are reported to have left the country to practice in other countries.

The development is said to be affecting medicare in the country’s hospitals such that some departments in many hospitals have been closed due to the depletion of specialists.

Chairman of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Abia State chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria ( MDCAN), Dr Ibrahim Sumaila, gave the 500 figure, yesterday, in his welcome and valedictory address during the take-off of the four days MDCAN Biennial General and Scientific Meeting ( BDSM ) and Distinguished Medical Specialist’s Lecture held at the said FMC, which had the theme “ JAPA Syndrome, Depleting The Famished Workforce in Nigeria.”

He described the sub-theme, ‘X-Raying the Health Status of Abia State: The Past, Present and The Way Forward,” as very critical and needing robust discussions, as well as know that in the recent past, the Abia State Health Sector was in near total collapse, and that recently, the current state government is seen to be making efforts at resuscitating the sector.

Disclosing the figure of 500 migrant doctors was sourced from MDCN, he attributed the reasons for the migration, which he called japa (going away) to poor remuneration, insecurity, and poor working conditions, stressing the need for urgent and immediate interventions by government at all levels to prevent the total collapse of the Health Sector.