Sintayehu Kebede

Brain Drain of Medical Doctors in Ethiopia: a Challenge to Public Health Service Sintayehu Kebede German edition

To achieve socio-economic development which all human society aspires, governments should ensure equitable access to health services. The proper provision of health service, however, is constrained by several factors. One among a myriad of these barriers to the efficient delivery of health services is the shortage of medical doctors. In the developing world like that of Africa, in addition to less production of medical doctors at home, there is a blatant migration of physicians to the rest of the world especially to the western nations in search of green pasture. Among the sub Saharan countries, Ethiopia is one which is severely stricken by this plague of medical doctors brain drain. According to sources, the country has already lost 76 % of its medical professionals including doctors. It has been reported that Ethiopian medical Doctors living in Chicago alone outnumbered the homeland figure. In this work, the author tries to investigate the magnitude of the problem in public health facilities of the country and forwards feed-backs for possible change in policy directions by government and other stake holders.