A total of 4,528 Nigeria-trained medical doctors moved to the United Kingdom to practise between 2015 and July 2021,
The figure is aside from the number of Nigerian doctors who were trained in the UK and are practising there.
The Senior Medical Officer of the British General Medical Council, Miranda Newey, disclosed this in an email exchange on Wednesday.
The council licenses and maintains the official register of medical practitioners in the UK.
According to Newey, the increase the number of doctors migrating from Nigeria has made the council to open a bigger clinical examination centre.
The results of the clinical examinations conducted by the council usually decide the eligibility of the migrating Nigerian doctors to practise in the UK.
She said, “The data released to you contains the total of Nigeria trained doctors who gained their primary medical qualifications from medical schools in Nigeria. This is excluding Nigerians trained in the UK.
“The spike in doctors’ migration made us to open a bigger clinical assessment centre to enable us to test more doctors wanting to work in the UK.
“Despite being forced to close during the pandemic, there has been a lot of demand for test placements fromr people coming in from Nigeria.”
According to the data made available by the council, 233 Nigerian doctors passed the examination to practise in the UK in 2015.
The number increased to 279 in 2016 while the figure was 475 in 2017.
In 2018, the figure rose to 852 while it further increased to 1,347 in 2019.
In 2020, the figure was 833 despite the fact that the GMC closed operations during the pandemic.
The figure for between January 1 and July 31, 2021 is put at 509.
On requirements for doctors coming from overseas countries like Nigeria, Newey said, “The Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board route is one of the options for International Medical Graduates (IMGs – doctors who qualified outside the UK or EEA) who want to work in the UK.
“Doctors must pass PLAB 1, a multiple-choice examination held at venues worldwide and PLAB 2, a clinical competence examination held in Manchester, before being able to secure GMC registration.
“The PLAB route is the most common route for doctors, who qualified overseas to take. The PLAB 2 examination is the one taken at the GMC’s clinical assessment centre.
“Doctors must also provide evidence that their medical qualification and their knowledge of English are acceptable before applying to take the PLAB exams.
“Other routes to registration with the GMC for IMGs include sponsorship, having an approved postgraduate qualification and applying to join the register as a specialist.” – Punch.
