UK Stops Recruitment of Doctors And Nurses From Nigeria And 46 Other Countries, including South Sudan

The United Kingdom has introduced a policy meant to restrict the recruitment of doctors from Nigeria and 46 other countries.

The move is expected to help the UK meet its target of delivering 50,000 more nurses by 2024, a statement by the UK government on February 25 said.

The policy does not, however, bar Nigerian doctors from migrating to the UK.

“To align with the WHO, the new code refers to the WHO Health Workforce Support and safeguard List, 2020 of 47 countries where active recruitment can’t be undertaken,” the statement read.

“This replaces the previous UK-held list of 152 countries, and removes confusion which can arise from the UK holding a separate list of countries. UK recruiters are not permitted to actively recruit from these countries unless there is a government to government agreement in place for managed recruitment.”

Other countries affected are Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Guinea-Bissau and Haiti.

The others are Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo Uganda, Vanuatu and Yemen.

According to the UK General Medical Council, there are over 8,000 Nigerian trained doctors in the UK.