<p><!-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --></p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.95 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad4" id="quads-ad4" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>

<p> ;</p><div class="ISNyLglB" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<!-- TV -->

<ins class="adsbygoogle"

 style="display:block"

 data-ad-client="ca-pub-4403533287178375"

 data-ad-slot="4399361195"

 data-ad-format="auto"

 data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>

<script>

 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script></div>
<p>Many medical doctors in Nigeria have applied for job positions with the Saudi Arabia ministry of health.</p><div class="J3ulEKiF" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<!-- TV -->

<ins class="adsbygoogle"

 style="display:block"

 data-ad-client="ca-pub-4403533287178375"

 data-ad-slot="4399361195"

 data-ad-format="auto"

 data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>

<script>

 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script></div>
<p>The recruitment exercise was organised by the ministry in conjunction with Successlink Consult in Ikeja, Lagos state capital, on Sunday.</p>
<p>The job offer was for consultants and specialists in all medical fields, excluding psychiatrists.</p>
<p>Among those present for the interview were medical consultants and doctors in various areas of specialisation.</p><div class="Q3yv4lzA" style="clear:both;float:left;width:100%;margin:0 0 20px 0;"><script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<ins class="adsbygoogle"

 style="display:block; text-align:center;"

 data-ad-layout="in-article"

 data-ad-format="fluid"

 data-ad-client="ca-pub-4403533287178375"

 data-ad-slot="6550225277"></ins>

<script>

 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script></div>
<p>The Cable gathered that each applicant paid N10,000 as the application fee after which medical certificates, means of identification, and other documents were tendered at the point of documentation.</p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.95 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad3" id="quads-ad3" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>

<p>After payment, the medical doctors were screened before a panel of Saudi Arabian personnel.</p>
<p>Speaking with The Cable, one of the applicants who specialises in hematology — a branch of medicine concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases — described the screening as the “shortest interview of my life”.</p>
<p>“I showed them my original documents before going in and also presented the duplicates which they took to the interviewers. After making the payment, I was taken inside for the interview. The interview lasted like one minute, I think it’s the shortest interview of my life,” he said.</p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.95 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad1" id="quads-ad1" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>

<p>“I have been hearing about such recruitments for a while but I have never applied. This is my first time.”</p>
<p>This is not the first time Saudi Arabia will woo Nigerian medical doctors with job offers.</p>
<p>In March 2019, a similar exercise was held at a popular hotel in Lagos while another took place in Abuja.</p>
<p>At the time, Chris Ngige, minister of labour and productivity, had claimed that there is nothing wrong with doctors leaving Nigeria as the country has “more than enough” medical personnel.</p>
<p>“There are surplus in their country and we also have surplus in the medical profession in our country. I can tell you this. In my area, we have excess,” Ngige had said.</p>
<p>“Who said we don’t have enough doctors? We have more than enough. You can quote me. There is nothing wrong in them travelling out.”</p>
<p>But a fact check by The Cable revealed that the minister’s claim is false as WHO data showed that Nigeria is among the countries with a very poor doctor-to-patient ratio as of 2013 — which is the most recent data.</p>
<p>The latest recruitment exercise comes amid ongoing strike action by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).</p>
<p>The doctors had commenced the strike on August 1 over “irregular payment of salaries”, among other issues.</p>
<p>Efforts by the house of representatives to mediate between the federal government and NARD ended in a deadlock.</p>
<p>Over the years, medical doctors have engaged in strike actions while agitating for improved welfare conditions and increased allocation to the health sector.</p>
<p>In April, resident doctors had embarked on a strike action to protest their poor remuneration and conditions of service.</p>
<p>Prior to the time, the doctors had engaged in a similar action in September 2020 amid rising COVID-19 cases.</p>
<p>The Cable had reported that a Nigerian doctor gets N5,000 as monthly hazard allowance while senators are paid 248 times higher (N1.24 million) to buy newspapers monthly.</p>
<p>This situation, among others, has forced many medical doctors to leave the country in search of greener pastures.</p>
<p>In 2018, research by Africa Check showed that at least 12 doctors leave Nigeria for the UK every week.</p>
<p><!-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.95 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad5" id="quads-ad5" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>
</p>
<script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<ins class="adsbygoogle"

 style="display:block"

 data-ad-format="autorelaxed"

 data-ad-client="ca-pub-4403533287178375"

 data-ad-slot="1004305389"></ins>

<script>

 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

</script>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.95 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad4" id="quads-ad4" style="float:none;margin:0px;">

</div>


