‘Over 1,000 medical, dental consultants have left Nigeria’

The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), which began a seven-day warning strike on Monday, has said 1,106 out of the 6,137 medical and dental consultants in Nigeria have migrated to other countries within the last five years.

This was disclosed by the MDCAN President, Professor Mohammad Aminu Mohammad, in a briefing with journalists yesterday. He also added that 1,799 out of the 6,137, making 29.31 per cent, were 55 years and above while a third of the present number would be retiring in the next five years.

He said: “Study conducted in January 2024 showed that there were only 6,137 medical and dental consultants in Nigeria, 3,475 of them being hospital consultants while 2,668 were honourary consultants.

“The study further found 1,106 medical consultants had migrated to other countries in the last five years and 1,799 out of the 6,137 were above age 55. This means nearly a third of the present, albeit inadequate number of consultants will retire within the next five years. This is without taking into account that many other consultants may exit the civil service by some other means other than the obvious reasons stated above.”