Return to Nigeria to Practice?

Nigerian Doctors around the World

Hundreds of Nigerian doctors are leaving the shores of the country for greener pastures abroad, the reasons are not far-fetched; and they include but are not limited to the following:

• increasing workload with inadequate tools
• non commensurate pay
• economic and political instability
• job progression
• better working environment
• Comfort, safety and health of self and family members

It is well acknowledged that #Nigerian doctors have gone on to excel and be at the top of medical practice in whatever countries they migrate to, however, regardless of their many successes, comfort and wealth obtained overseas; there is that nagging thought at the back of their minds of one day returning home

If you are a doctor that has had such thoughts pulling your mind back to Nigeria, here are things you should consider before buying that ticket and making the big announcement to your family.

1. Motive
2. What will you be coming to do?
3. What do you hope to earn?
4. The business environment
5. Family

Motive

What is your motive? You have to be clear about this. Do you want to come and give back to the country that nurtured you? Is it a deep sense of patriotism? Or are you just homesick? Or you’ve heard some insider information that there are better opportunities back home.  Your motive is very important to avoid stories that touch.

What will you be coming to do?

Now that you know your motive, you can move on to the next consideration.

This is a very important consideration, if you’ve been practicing as a doctor abroad, you would either have attained specialist level or are in residency training or doing locum. So the options for work here are:

• Work in the public sector
• Work in the private sector
• Own your own business

We will come back to this in a bit as we discuss the next consideration

What do you hope to Earn?

Let’s take them one after the other.

Public sector

As a #diaspora doctor you would be earning something in the region of a minimum of 4000 dollars monthly so if you choose the first option to work in the public sector, except you are coming home to take up a political appointment like say Minister of Health or board member of a Federal Parastatal, you are unlikely to get commensurate pay or grade level in the public sector.

If you are yet to be a consultant abroad, no matter how far you’ve gone career wise, you have to settle for being a mere medical officer here. The civil service structure for doctors puts doctors at a range of grade level 12 which is a medical officer to grade level 17 which is a Chief medical officer. As a diaspora doctor the best you can probably get is to be a grade level 13 medical officer. Be ready for a 4 times drop in the salary you’ve been used to.

Likewise as a consultant abroad with potential salary of 10,000 dollars or more monthly, except you are taking up a political appointment, you will be started on grade levels 14/15 with almost a 10 times drop in your possible earnings.  Will this be worth your while?

Private Sector

What if you choose working as a doctor in the private sector? Well all I can say is the public sector salaries are much higher than working in the private sector; this could be as much as a 100k difference. But you can earn more than that in the private sector if you go for a non-clinical role, maybe as a manager or administrator, You can then be assured of salaries of up to half a million naira or more with maybe a few benefits like a car. Still a far cry from what you are used to.

Your own business

So we are left with the third option, owning your business. This may be the most profitable option of them all, though easier said than done. The options include setting up your own hospital, setting up a health allied company e.g. an HMO or digital health company and entering into partnerships with likeminded individuals locally and internationally.

That brings us to the 4^th Consideration

The Business Environment

What are the obstacles you are likely to face if you want to set up your own business?

1 is registration. With a bit of determination, this shouldn’t be too hard to overcome

2 is renting or buying a facility

3 is gaining acceptance and sourcing for clients and partners

I won’t want to go through all the bottlenecks you are likely to encounter in doing this like corruption which is still rife, government bureaucracy and even the omo-onile’s in certain communities – a story for another day.

What becomes of your family?

This is a key consideration and one which requires a lot of thought. More than likely your spouse will also have a comfortable job. A lot of times doctors marry doctors or nurses; will your spouse be ready to drop his or her career to follow you back to Nigeria and practically start all over again?

What about the children? More than likely, they were born abroad or moved there with you soon after birth; most will even have a foreign accent and will be enrolled in various prestigious schools. You can’t just up and pick them to Nigeria. No doubt there are good private schools in Nigeria, but to get the same standard and exposure they are used to will cost you an arm and a leg.

Overall, I do not have the statistics of how many doctors have actually returned to Nigeria to practice, but your guess is as good as mine. That being said if you go overseas to study probably to do your masters, the best time to return home is probably immediately after your degree as the ‘oyinbo’ life wouldn’t have really affected you and you have the option of charting the course of your life and career.

Another option you may want to consider is a phased return, test the waters first before throwing your anchor. You may also choose to invest here or partner with others without necessarily coming over.

Before you go, the stats below may interest you.