The rising spate of insecurity in the country has been identified as one of the major reasons for the mass exodus of medical doctors from Nigeria.
This is according to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).
Kogi State Chairman of NMA, Dr. Abubakar Hassan, told journalists in Lokoja that medical personnel had recently become the prime targets for criminal elements despite their service to humanity.
According to him, this has crippled the health services across the nation and Kogi State was not exempted.
He asserted that there are many unreported cases of doctors who are being held in captivity by their abductors across the country.
“Maybe at this juncture, I should add that in a particular North Central State, at least two doctors are currently in captivity, one for an upward of one year now. The second one happened only recently, just a week ago. The story is the same across the entire country,” Hassan stated.
He said as a result, “We have gotten to a stage where practising in some African countries is becoming more attractive to doctors in Nigeria.”
Hassan, who averred that down tooling was the last option for doctors to press home their demands, bemoaned the federal government for failing to provide security for its citizens, adding that it has become a serious hindrance to the practice of the medical profession in Nigeria.
