@thetimes: The nation’s medical graduates are offered wages as low as £200 a month, so most come to Britain instead. Dr Chukwuebuka Francis Okoye, a 31-year-old registrar talks about his friends from medical school. ⁠ ⁠ He said about 60% had left the country, most for the US or the UK. More than 22,000 Nigerians work for the NHS in England, and more than 10,000 Nigerian doctors are estimated to have registered to practise in the UK.⁠ ⁠ He understands why his classmates left. Sometimes, as when the electricity cuts out in the hospital, he thinks of leaving too. There are so few doctors in Nigeria, and so many patients that his shifts can stretch into days: once, he worked for 56 hours straight. There are an average of 20,000 patients to every doctor, according to the Nigerian Dental and Medical Council, and the population — already Africa’s largest — is growing by 2 per cent a year. The UK has roughly one doctor for every 300 patients.⁠ ⁠ “If I have the opportunity to leave, I’ll leave,” Okoye said. “But several factors are keeping me in Nigeria ... My family is here. And my country really needs me ... I think I’ll be of more value here than in the western world.”⁠ ⁠ 🔗 Click the link to read the full story by Louise Callaghan #nigeria #NHS #doctors #africa

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Tuesday 16 June 2026 07:00:00 GMT