United Kingdom Government Puts Nigeria On Red List For Healthcare Recruitment

The United Kingdom has put Nigeria on the red list alongside other countries to ensure that health and social care employers don't recruit them unless there is a government-to-government agreement.

"Consistent with the WHO [World Health Organisation] Global Code of Practice principles and articles, and as explicitly called for by the WHO Global Code of Practice 10-year review, the listed countries should be prioritized for health personnel development and health system-related support, provided with safeguards that discourage active international recruitment of health personnel," as per UK's official website, Punch reported.

The official website that issued the statement under the title "Code of Practice for the international recruitment of Health and social care personnel in England", mentioned that the countries on the red list "should not be actively targeted for recruitment."

The statement explained, "Countries on the list should not be actively targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers, recruitment organizations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place to allow managed recruitment undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of that agreement."

It further explained that the countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list have been given a red grade while the partner countries are placed on the amber list, which means if the country has not been put on the red list, then it is green and healthcare employers can recruit citizens of those countries.

"Green-graded countries without a government-to-government agreement with the UK are not published in the code of practice for England," the statement continued. "The government-to-government agreement may set parameters, implemented by the country of origin, for how UK employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organizations, agencies, and collaborations recruit."

The statement disclosed that the list of green countries will be updated on the official website as soon as government signs a new government-to-government agreement and suggested employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organizations, agencies, and collaborations to keep checking the list before running any recruitment campaign.

"Green-graded countries with a government-to-government agreement for managing international health and care workforce recruitment are India, Malaysia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka," it added.

The statement came after WHO shared that the healthcare workforce is drastically reducing in Nigeria as the doctor-to-patient ratio is 1:10,000, AllAfrica reported.

Dr. Victor Makanjuola, who serves as the president of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), revealed that Nigeria is able to retain only 30 percent of its doctors on annual basis.

"If we retain 30 percent of 12,000, it's better than 30 percent of 4,000. And if we train about 12,000, 30 percent of that is far better than the current state of about 4,000," Makanjuola said, as per AllAfrica. "And with that, we think we can still support the system, not optimally but at least keep the system going."