Rich Countries Poach Doctors, Nurses That Poor Nations Spent Hundr

[Tsiyu]

By Dulue Mbachu Associated Press Writer
Published: Jan 27, 2005


LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Lagos Island Hospital lost two of its best surgeons and several nurses to Gulf nations, Europe and America last year, leaving it in a dire situation shared by hospitals across the developing world.
"It is usually the most skilled and experienced who leave. We lose their skills and there's no one to train new people," Lagos Island's Dr. John Adebowale said Wednesday, the day a new report was released detailing the costs of the migration of medical professionals from poor to rich countries.

Cheap labor from the developing world doesn't just mean taxi drivers, nannies and maids. Rich countries save hundreds of thousands of dollars in training on the doctors and nurses they poach from poor nations, creating a shortage of health care workers in those countries, according to the report from the International Organization for Migration.

The intergovernmental group, which often works closely with the United Nations on immigration and refugee issues, estimated it would have cost rich nations about $184,000 to train each of the estimated 3 million professionals educated in poor countries now working in the developed world, for a "staggering" total savings of $552 billion.

Poor nations, meanwhile, spend $500 million a year training health workers, according to the report presented at a two-day meeting to discuss the impact of the migration of Africans.

more:

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBYOOKLG4E.html