The Kwara government has lamented the retention crisis in the state health sector due to the emigration of medical doctors in search of greener pastures.

Abdulraheem Abdulmalik, executive secretary of the state Hospital Management Board, disclosed this at the 2025 first quarter inter-ministerial briefing on Tuesday.

Mr Abdulmalik noted that despite the directive of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on hiring doctors, the board has been unable to find eligible ones for recruitment.

“We have the approval of His Excellency to recruit doctors, but we can’t just find the doctors to recruit,” Mr Abdulmalik said. “Doctors are hotcakes now. If a doctor resigns in the morning, he will get another job in the afternoon.”

He explained that Kwara presently has 99 doctors in the facility of the state-owned hospitals on its payroll instead of its target of 180 to 200.

According to him, some returned after the state increased the earnings of medical doctors.

“The three medical doctors that left the service returned after the recent increase in doctors’ salaries by the governor. We actually had 96, but after His Excellency increased the salary, three of them that ‘japa’ came back.

“We have 99 right now. We’re expecting more at the moment because we need about 180 to 200 medical doctors,” Mr Abdulmalik said.

While lamenting the dearth of medical doctors, the executive secretary noted that the challenge was more pronounced in rural areas.

He added that the board was working out remuneration and incentives for doctors to address the situation with resources available.

The Nigerian healthcare system has been facing a severe crisis due to the mass migration of medical practitioners, particularly doctors, to developing countries such as the UK and the U.S.

The phenomenon, which is christened as “japa syndrome”, has also resulted in a significant shortage of skilled professionals and compromised the quality of patient care.

Recently, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), now less than 8,560 Nigerian doctors, registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK, revealing that the number represented 39 per cent of all international registrations.

It also added that 2,454 Nigerian doctors migrated to the U.S., Canada, and Australia during the same period.