Toba Owojaiye reporting
Benin City, Edo State
The National Hospital in Abuja has raised a growing concern over the alarming brain drain plaguing Nigeria’s healthcare sector, which has led to a significant reduction in its workforce from 3,000 to 2,500. This setback comes despite the hospital’s 25 years of remarkable medical advancements and a history of staff expansion.
Truth Live News gathered that Prof. Muhammad Raji, Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, expressed these concerns during an interview in Abuja on Tuesday. He underscored the serious implications of this workforce reduction, stressing that if not for the ongoing brain drain, the hospital would have maintained a full staff strength of 3,000.
Prof. Raji lamented that the mass exodus of healthcare professionals to foreign countries continues to undermine the capacity of Nigerian hospitals. “It’s not easy to get as many healthcare workers as we need, especially with the increasing number of professionals migrating abroad,” he stated.
Reflecting on the hospital’s journey over the last 25 years, the CMD highlighted its evolution from a modest facility offering limited services mainly to women and children, to a fully-fledged hospital providing comprehensive care across all demographics. “Today, we provide comprehensive treatment for all genders and ages,” he noted, emphasizing the expansion of both services and staff over the years.
Despite these achievements, Prof. Raji pointed out the glaring toll the migration of skilled professionals has taken on the hospital’s workforce. “The hospital now has no fewer than 2,500 staff members, but if it was not for the brain drain affecting our workforce, we would be talking about 3,000 today,” he added.
He proudly recounted some of the hospital’s pioneering achievements, including the first successful separation of conjoined twins, performing open brain surgery with the patient fully awake, and leading in advanced treatments like in vitro fertilization (IVF). The hospital also celebrated the birth of sextuplets, all of whom survived—a rare and significant milestone in Nigeria.
However, Prof. Raji remains optimistic about reversing this trend through innovative collaborations with the Nigerian diaspora, believing that such partnerships could offer pathways to retain skilled professionals and bolster the country’s health sector.
Despite the challenges, the National Hospital remains a beacon of medical excellence in Nigeria, continuously setting new standards in healthcare, even as it grapples with the unsettling wave of talent migration.