Mirian Gom 
LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigeria’s healthcare system faces deepening strain as senior doctors warn that both internal and external brain drain are stripping teaching hospitals of critical specialists.
The warning emerges Tuesday at the annual conference of the Association of Urological Surgeons of Nigeria (NAUS), where experts discuss surgical innovation while confronting workforce depletion.
Senior Consultant Urologist at LASUTH and Local Organising Committee chairman, Prof Folarin Omisanjo, says internal migration now rivals overseas departures in damaging impact. “Training centres invest millions producing specialists, only to lose them before they serve as consultants, mentors and researchers,” Omisanjo says. “The rate at which our members leave after training is alarmingly high.”
Also, Consultant Urologist at LUTH and Nigeria’s first female urologist, Dr Abimbola Abolarinwa, says the system fails to support expertise. “We are training the world but losing Nigeria,” she says. “Nigeria has the talent; what it lacks is the ecosystem to retain them.”
She urges specialists who migrate to return and invest locally, stressing that many would stay if working conditions improved.
NAUS President, Prof Nuhu Dakum, describes internal brain drain as a “crisis within a crisis,” driven by insecurity, poor funding and unsafe rural postings. “Doctors move to where pay, working conditions and security are better,” Dakum says. “Hospitals are attacked, doctors kidnapped, and rural postings are seen as punishments.”
He warns that the exodus leaves entire regions without specialist care, overburdens remaining doctors and threatens patient outcomes.
Dakum calls on federal and state governments to urgently address security, welfare and infrastructure, warning that without decisive action, Nigeria’s fragile health system will deteriorate further.
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