Is the UK damaging Africa's healthcare?

The UK is severely damaging sub-Saharan Africa's health services by poaching staff, UK doctors have warned.

Doctors from St George's Hospital in London, say there are opportunities for the UK to stop the brain drain from poor to rich countries when Britain takes over the chair of the G8 in July.

They urged the UK to create more home grown doctors to staff the NHS and warned that financially compensating nations for lost staff will not work.

Do you think the UK is damaging Africa's healthcare? Do we rely too heavily on doctors from outside the UK and Europe?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

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The following comments reflect the balance of opinion received so far:

SUGGEST A DEBATE This topic was suggested by John Blizzard, Poland Is it morally right that the UK should try to meet shortages of medical staff such as doctors and nurses by recruiting from underdeveloped countries? Send us your suggestions for Have Your Say debates

Pay the British nurses more money - that is the answer! They won't leave in droves then hopefully.
Rob, London

The hypocrisy of the Western World, including Britain, who are committed to tackling poverty in the Third World yet are willing to cripple Africa by attracting health staff to these shores. Makes me ashamed to be British.
Alex Hamilton, Manchester

As in many other fields, the UK will always poach (without a second taught) as it has always done from time. Shame on a country that preaches aids to Africa yet perpetuates such atrocity without a wink.
Ola Matem, Lagos, Nigeria

While the European countries argue other countries like India, China and Japan will continue to rise above the rest. In 60 years Japan went from a war torn country to the worlds most technologically advanced country, in 60 years India went from being ruled by others to a country whose economy is booming year by year and in 60 years China went from a land full of destruction to one of huge manufacturing capabilities. Imagine how far these countries might be in 60 more years.
Mitul Patel, Rushden UK

The government should leave the industry to standard market forces Jamie Levy, London, England

The government should leave the industry to standard market forces. Doctors moaning about brain drain from poor to rich countries should remember that they have sworn to save lives and obviously money means something.
Jamie Levy, London, England

When a medical school in Ghana or South Africa teaches only in English instead of Twi or Zulu as well, why be surprised when some of its graduates move to England? People fluent in English or French are the easiest for Western hospitals to "poach", so why should they be the only ones in med school? Students who are good at maths and science but bad at foreign languages deserve a chance too! Of course, offering medical training in more than just the Western lingua francas would be more expensive - but developmental aid could cover this expense
Hsifeng, NYC, USA

The way house-prices have shot up in rip-off Britain, I expect foreign doctors will soon be emigrating somewhere else. Maybe they will even go back to their own countries.
Barb, E Sussex

It would be great to be in a position where the UK is sending doctors to poorer nations Andy, Chichester

It would be great to be in a position where the UK is sending doctors to poorer nations, and yet we see very little recruitment information in our schools and colleges on becoming a doctor.
Andy, Chichester

Having foreign workers in any industry is normal. The real problem is probably that because the UK spends less per head on healthcare than other developed countries, its medical jobs are unattractive to European or American medical professionals, so it has to recruit in the Third World instead.
Manu, Mechelen, Belgium

The irony of this whole situation is that, amid the justified debate on asylum seekers, we have many doctors and nurses who are fully qualified in their home countries who are not allowed to practice here because of their asylum status. Many work in short-term careers in factories and unskilled careers because they have waited years pending their cases.
P Carney, Grantham

Yet another example of blaming the good guys (the UK) and not bothering to mention the corruption, death and destruction of the dictatorships so common in Africa.
Craig Traylor, Houston, Texas

The West does poach staff from other nations. However, some of these medical professionals will later return to their country of origin with enhanced ability. The UK could try to train more of our own as it is crucial that medical professionals are able to speak and understand our language with a high degree of competence.
Keith, London

It is also hypocritical for rich countries to drain scarce and skilled staff and then offer developmental aid Olaf Forster MD, Johannesburg

I am a MD working in a public hospital in South Africa. For years we have experienced the results of brain drain (doctors, nurses, teachers, policemen) from South Africa to the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In my view it is clearly unethical. It is also hypocritical for rich countries to drain scarce and skilled staff and then offer developmental aid. It is a well known fact that the UK hasn't trained sufficient numbers of doctors for decades.
Olaf Forster MD, Johannesburg, South Africa

This is how the market works. In the same way the NHS looses nurses to agencies and private hospitals who train no one. Perhaps if we stopped that internal poaching we wouldn't need so many nurses from abroad? And the NHS could compete with the private sector on a level playing field.
Paul, Hereford

All healthcare professionals should be allowed to work wherever they find opportunity. British NHS problems arise from the basic fact that people are not paying a realistic amount for a world class service. Recruitment and training policies for all health care staff have been made "on the cheap" for a generation. The fact the NHS is having to recruit overseas personnel is a reflection on poor long term planning.
Richard Goddard, Poole, Dorset

With the NHS in turmoil this country should continue to accept medical professionals with open arms Mike, Southampton, UK

Having lived in South Africa for 17 years I can say that doctors from Africa are superior in every aspect of medicine to their British counterparts. Upheavals and politics within South Africa would mean that if they weren't heading to the UK, they'd be off to Australia, Canada or New Zealand. With the NHS in turmoil this country should continue to accept medical professionals with open arms.
Mike, Southampton, UK

If the UK increased wages to that of other UK professionals, this would promote NHS staffing numbers, thereby decreasing stress levels, and retaining present staff and leaving valuable staff to care for those in their own countries.
Sandra Johns, Plymouth

My own personal undergraduate research on Ethiopia indicates that the UK is not really the problem, although I cannot comment on the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. I discovered that the so-called "brain drain" from Ethiopia moves towards Kenya, South Africa and the United States. This problem is a global issue (what isn't these days?) that must be resolved at this scale.
Derek Dyson, London

Over and over again we keep hearing the same argument: Europe is to blame for what ever problem Africa has today. Would any one want to leave a country where there is good, responsible government, freedom of choice and organization? Let the governments of Africa start behaving with responsibility to its peoples and true democracy and then maybe we will see progress in that unfortunate continent.
Paul Papadopoulo, Athens, Greece

Why is it wrong for a qualified person to seek a higher rate of pay? Adam, Dundee, Scotland

Why is it wrong for a qualified person to seek a higher rate of pay than they can manage where they are? If it's so wrong, why don't the African leaders who get billions a year from around the world spend it on paying a higher rate of pay to doctors?
Adam, Dundee, Scotland

If we don't take medical staff from Africa, other countries will. So the UK is not to be blamed. It is a fact of life. With good communications technology these days, people find out where they could possibly earn the most and move. It is greed, money and a better lifestyle that lure us to move from job to job and thus country to country.
Christina Spybey, London, UK

Medicine, particularly in poor societies, is a subsidised service. The insistence of IMF and World Bank on ending welfare left local doctors and nurses unemployed or badly employed. Similarly the pharmaceutical industry in poor countries relied on subsidies to make cheap drugs, under licence, for local markets. Now the poor cannot get the doctor nor afford the prescription.
Dr Yousef Abdulla, Orpington, UK

As a Nigerian-British, I can only see good things coming to Nigeria by Nigerian nurses and doctors coming to the UK to work. Due to this, all affected extended families have seen their economic status improved dramatically in a country like Nigeria that cares so little about its populace. A lot of families depend on handouts sent from overseas.
Taiwo Olateju, London

Of course we are causing problems elsewhere. Yet another spin-off from the mass immigration to the UK - huge increase in demand for services causing knock-on effects in other countries.
Les, Morpeth, England

It is clear that the developed world is obligated to deny Africans the right to control their own destiny. How could we possibly be so selfish as to allow these educated people a way to better themselves and to send money home to their families?
Greg Burton, Atlanta, GA USA

If African governments want to keep them they should offer them better money and conditions Andrew, London

I am fed up with post-imperial guilt. The doctors have a right to better themselves; we have a right to employ them: it would be discriminatory to refuse. The NHS no longer recruits in the affected countries so it is the enterprising types who seek us out who come here. If African governments want to keep them they should offer them better money and conditions and above all, as always where Africa is concerned, better governance. End of story.
Andrew, London

Brain drains are always an issue. I can understand medical professionals leaving Africa for more money while our own country fails to train enough doctors and nurses. The expense of training to become a medical Doctor over a six year period puts many off. I understand it perfectly as once I have a higher degree (MSc), I'll be off to a country that values educated professionals. Hey, the UK will have plenty of psychologists, artists, media people and sociologists!
James, UK

The UK shouldn't be blamed. As an international student I believe that doctors coming from third world countries gain benefits of getting valuable experience and money. There is no way they can gain such experience in their respective countries. This might be useful for those countries when they will decide to go back. The third world needs people who are educated in developed countries.
Himanshu Patel, Nottingham

If Britain required foreign doctors to return to their native country a short while after their initial training, both countries would benefit. The native country would receive well-trained doctors, and British doctors would have less competition. The foreign doctors could return for further training as long as the majority of their career was spent treating patients in their own country.
Jamie, Wendover, UK

Sadly, the western 'civilised' world doesn't have morals any more Paul, Wales

Sadly, the western "civilised" world doesn't have morals any more. Morals get in the way of business and shareholders' profits. This is why more and more of Europe is becoming secular. Clear religious attitudes imply morals, where unfortunately none exist.
Paul, Wales

The UK is a victim of this as well. Perhaps the reason that so many third world medical staff are needed to come here is because our medically talented citizens are choosing to go abroad and earn more money or have a higher standard of living. My cousin qualified in nursing and gave little more than a couple of years to the NHS before emigrating to the United States where she can expect a higher wage and better working and living standards.
Jonathan Owen, Cannock, England

Simply follow the example of football clubs and get health trusts to pay a transfer fee to the health department of the country of origin of these health professionals. We get their talent but they get the money to invest in new training for new stars.
Mark Rock, London, UK

Imagine the outcry if the Government were to ban UK nationals from moving abroad to seek a better life. Then ask why we should try to stop individuals from moving to this country for precisely this reason - with the added complication that whereas UK citizens receive state education, these doctors have often had to pay through the nose to gain their training. We should not begrudge their decision to move.
Alex, UK

It all comes down to one of the deadly sins "greed". There are too many individuals in this profession primarily in it for the money. So it's not Britain's fault, just greedy individuals with no loyalty to their motherland or people.
Sean Carriere, Edinburgh

This is a story that has been repeated throughout history: the exploitation of Africa Dylan, Brighton

There are many factors that would help in increasing living and hospital standards in African countries. Taking away their professionals is not one of them. This is a story that has been repeated throughout history: the exploitation of Africa. The West owes this continent a great debt of illegally gained wealth and manpower from the times of colonialism and slavery, yet it's the African countries are the ones in debt. Where's the logic in that?
Dylan, Brighton, UK

The solution to the problem of "poaching" of medically qualified staff from abroad is a simple one. The state that pays for a professional's education should make the funding conditional on several years' service in that state's health system. This is the rational economic solution: a contractual mechanism to ensure fair returns to a government's education, whilst giving the worker the freedom to move where he/she wishes after this.
Robin Ogilvy, Cambridge, UK

Firstly the African (and other) countries benefit from what is going on. The immigrant doctors send money back home and improve their own skills. Secondly it stops the medical profession holding our nation to ransom. If a dentist or doctor can study and accept levels of remuneration that are common here in Latin America then why should a dentist for example be able to work part time in the UK and earn something like three times the national average wage?
Ian, Bolivia

Africa's problems are down to Africa. Stop this "it's all the fault of the West culture". Ask yourself - how is it that whilst Africa is mired in corruption, war, poverty and starvation, the Far East moves from strength to strength. As an excuse for social and economic failure colonialism and neo-colonialism is fast running out.
Hugh, London

It is appalling that the world's fourth largest economy cannot train and pay enough doctors and nurses - we should be training more than we need. On the other hand, since we seem to be the HIV treatment centre for the third world, maybe it's not so wrong that we import a lot of third-world doctors and nurses.
Anonymous, Manchester

I am a full-time carer for my disabled son and disabled mother-in-law and feel that I would like to go into nursing as a profession. I have taken a good look at what is on offer and just how little help I will get and decided to give up before I even started! Of course the UK is damaging Africa's healthcare, but what other alternative is there?
Sue, S Glos, UK

I am an MD working in a public hospital in South Africa. For years we have experienced the negative results of brain drain (doctors, nurses, teachers, policemen) from South Africa to the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In my view this practice is clearly unethical and has been addressed repeatedly by several African presidents and health ministers to Tony Blair without success. From an African perspective it is hypocritical for rich countries to drain scarce and skilled staff and then offer developmental aid. One could call this capitalist colonialism. It is a well known fact that the UK has not been training sufficient numbers of doctors for decades. Should the UK not rather solve its lack of skilled staff using their own human resources instead of relying on expert help from Africa? Or have times already changed that much? In which case I am sure, Africa would be ready to help.
Olaf Forster MD, PhD, Soweto, South Africa

These doctors will eventually help their countries when they are well equipped with knowledge and skills M Salhab, London, UK

It must be recognised that the UK provides the right place for many overseas doctors to train and gain experience. These doctors will eventually help their countries when they are well equipped with knowledge and skills. Therefore, the UK is not damaging the African healthcare in the long term.
M Salhab, London, UK

As an exiled practitioner, I ask myself these questions? Is the UK to be blamed for the so-called poaching of foreign health workers, or is the African governments who have refused to invest in their highly skilled by providing them with jobs. After all the wealthy politicians no longer patronise their own health system as they can afford to travel abroad for basic health services. Finally, how do you expect these professionals to survive, not to talk about their self/professional development.
Olawale Olanrewaju, Dublin, Ireland

Like all human beings, African doctors are entitled to pursue individual interests. Who can blame them from wanting to legally immigrate to a country that offers greater opportunity and respect for human dignity.
Mark, AZ, USA

So those who wish to oppose migration of medically qualified workers to Europe and North America from sub-Saharan Africa would perhaps put it like this - 'Sorry, you are African, you can't work here'? Migration is thus OK for Irish people (such as myself) but not for black folks? Should Africans not be free to be mobile? When you unravel your position, you will find it less than defensible.
Deirdre, London, ex Ireland

So what? The developed world exploits the developing world in so many ways - what's so special about this one?
Andy, Birmingham UK

If we want an effective NHS - and I do - we shall have to start encouraging people not only to train to work in health, but also pay them enough to continue working in the NHS (of course a lot of this problem, like others, would be solved if housing prices crashed). Encouraging immigration to run any public service or industry is just not a long term solution.
Edwood, Malvern UK

This is about more than just national borders - it is about inequality. If these well-qualified doctors with internationally recognized credentials did remain in their home countries, they would be servicing the rich, not those who need health care services.
Mali Bain, Vancouver, Canada

A couple of years ago I revisited the idea of becoming a doctor, having heard that the career was now being opened to, for example, existing graduates. It's good to know that at least they recognise that a career decision made at 21+ is likely to be more enduring than one made as a child. However, there seemed to be plenty of applicants for each medical school place. And if I was looking at factors that might still be deterring people from becoming doctors, the UK's 'blame culture' seems like an obvious one.
Liz, London, UK

Recruitment to the medical profession in the UK is a dismal process - competitive and encouraging super brains, but maybe not the best for medicine. And on the other hand there is a woefully inadequate quota of places. It is then compounded by the NHS being the only place where UK doctors can train. How should we meet time targets and train the next generation of doctors? The UK is very attractive to doctors from those countries where they would be paid less, but why should bright UK students not be attracted to much more rewarding careers which are readily available.
Fi (MB BS), UK

Temporary staff shortages are one thing, but how can an ongoing situation where there aren't enough home grown doctors be anything other than ludicrous? For this situation to have arisen betrays a level of incompetence for which heads would roll in private industry. As for the African doctors themselves, they are simply expressing their right to sell their highly valued skills wherever they can be best rewarded. It's called globalisation and people have to get used to it.
Dan, Yateley, UK

Set up hospitals in Africa, run to western standards but using local staff wherever possible Ken Ricketts, Wokingham

Perhaps the answer is for the NHS to follow the example of much of industry and outsource at least some healthcare to third world countries. Instead of recruiting doctors from Africa or outsourcing healthcare to expensive private hospitals in the UK, set up hospitals in Africa, run to western standards but using local staff wherever possible. The host countries would benefit by retaining medical staff, who could gain training and experience without having to spend years away from their homes and the hospitals could also provide some health care for local people. Patients willing to travel for treatment would benefit by being able to leapfrog the waiting list, while the NHS could handle more patients.
Ken Ricketts, Wokingham, UK

The UK isn't to blame - it's just global economics and people trying to make a better life for themselves. But we should be training our own medical staff rather than relying on finding people from abroad.
John, London

What is poaching? When the UK does not have enough staff in healthcare - or any industry - the visa rules and regulations are eased for the qualified employees. All seem to be going west where the money is good and more. It is better to look for greener pasture than to suffer in the dried out lands where there is no future. This will continue till the countries realise the potential of their education. Not all men are the same. They have pride in their education.
Firozali A Mulla, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania

Western companies are blamed when Western jobs are outsourced to lower wage earners in Singapore and India, why is this different when the direction is reversed?
Chris, Kansas City, USA

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown advocate that the G8 should increase aid to Africa whilst the UK and others harvest the very people needed to improve African and new European states. It is perverse that a country with one of the strongest economies in the world is dependent upon some of the weakest for labour. Pumping up the aid budget for these countries is a perpetual cost designed to make us feel better about ourselves rather than to solve any real problems.
Paul, Belgium

That has been the way of it for decades. But it is not fair on those countries. Maybe if we went into schools to recruit our own youngsters, and treated our own nurses better they wouldn't leave the NHS in the first place. Too much emphasis is put on theory and not enough on the practical. Maybe that's why the care as gone out of nursing.
Mary, Glasgow

Their countries spent lots of money educating these individuals Ken Aduhene, UK

This is an emotive issue as we are talking about the desire of professionals to exploit their skills. Although we do not begrudge these individuals doing what is best for their families, it must be said that their countries, poor as they are, spent lots of money educating these individuals. What is rather disappointing is that these professionals are unlikely to ever return to Africa on a permanent basis.
Ken Aduhene, UK

Gone are the days when this profession was known as a calling. It is now all down to greed.
Lee W., Dagenham

The UK and the doctors concerned are indeed damaging Africa's healthcare. The doctors could be forced to remain in their country of origin - or freely encouraged to. If they stayed they would live in poor conditions but with the internet, no longer declining knowledge. The UK attracts them with better conditions so I wonder why these doctors are greedy and unpatriotic?
David Saul, Leicester, UK

Part of the problem is the ill-advised and exploited health worker who pays thousands expecting a nursing job and gets poorly paid work as an auxiliary, not knowing the cost of living here. We end up with cheap labour and the country of origin loses a qualified worker. The people making most from this are the "fraud" agents. Trouble is a lot of employers are pressured to keep costs low by the Government. The Government really does not understand the consequences of its actions.
Jane, Leeds

You cannot one hand call for global free trade and anti-protectionism, then on the other hand cry foul when people exercise their right to sell their services to whoever they want in whatever market they want. If a company loses staff to a competitor because they pay a better wage or offer a better benefits package then no-one complains so why is this any different?
Eddie, Buckingham, UK

That's globalisation Gareth, Brit in Bermuda

People will work where the situation best suits them. Different personal priorities will determine that choice including financial rewards, security, children's education opportunities, climate, professional advancement, job satisfaction, non-work activities etc. The UK cannot be blamed for hiring medical staff from other countries when our own make the choice to move out of the country, plenty in Bermuda for instance. That's globalisation.
Gareth, Brit in Bermuda

A nurse or doctor chooses this profession to help people the best they can and provide for their own family. If they move from Africa to the UK then they will have the ability to help a lot more people with the latest technology which is what heath care is all about. Our nurses go to other countries also so I do not see the problem.
Neil D, Birmingham, UK

As a South African qualified pharmacist I see medical professionals willingly leave the country to work in the UK, USA and Canada because it is financially lucrative and working conditions are far better. For many African medics a few years spent working in the NHS or similar is the only way they could ever dream to achieve financial security for their families. Like the UK should address their own shortage of medical staff, so do African governments have a responsibility to their people to take better care and make better use of the medical expertise that they have at home.
Craig H, London, UK (ex South Africa)

No, it's not - these doctors went to school to better their lives. Do you actually think if someone went out and became educated in finance or history - they would stay in sub-Saharan Africa? No, they wouldn't. I wouldn't be blaming the UK - blame the doctors. It's an economic reality that were dealing with here.
Mike Daly, Miami, FL - USA

It's all about cheap labour John Andrews, London England

It's all about cheap labour. We cannot or more likely will not pay the right rate to attract UK citizens into these professions. The problem is that the short term gains that this country has from bringing in these people are longer term losses for this country as we will eventually find ourselves too reliant on foreigners with no one who can do the work when these people decide to go home. It's the same with other skilled professions - from plumbers to teachers. Politicians, who set the conditions for what is happening, can't see further than the next round of promised tax cuts that never happen anyway and we all suffer because of it - including Africa.
John Andrews, London England

Doctors are not bonded labourers bound to work for this or that country. They are highly skilled, intelligent, free thinking individuals. They, and only they, have a right to say where they will sell those skills.
T Wadey, Brighton

There is a problem in Africa and we get the blame. If African doctors abandon their countrymen and move to the UK, why can't the blame lie with those doctors? If they put their personal financial gain above the needs of their fellow countrymen, then that is their choice. Yet again Britain is portrayed as the villain and everybody from a Third World country is seen as a victim and never held responsible for their own actions.
Tim H, UK

I agree with Tim H that maybe these doctors should not have abandoned their countrymen. However, it is the actions of the British over the centuries that have led to the poor situation in Africa. I do not agree with prioritising financial gain over principles, but there are people worldwide that will do this. I urge people to ask themselves whether they would emigrate if they were promised a 'better' lifestyle and more money. There are many British people working abroad for selfish reasons. I think Britain needs to ensure that they are not contributing to situations in African (and other) countries that lead to their own people being poorly paid. This is an issue of globalisation, not just healthcare.
Katharine Friedmann, Leicester, UK

Nothing new or sinister. Poorly paid scientists in the UK have been taking lucrative positions in the USA for years.
John Askew, St Albans UK

Once again Africa seeks to deflect blame on to the First World for its condition. Africa is to blame for Africa - the day they accept this is the day they start to recover and all the aid in the world will not help until then.
Iain Howe, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Here in the UK, the Government encourages (& subsidises) education up to and including sixth form in a school environment. After that you are on your own, especially financially. That's why there is a chronic shortage of under-30 qualified UK workers in all areas, as there are no longer apprenticeships for tradesmen and technicians etc. Until the Government invests in the UK's future we will always be reliant on qualified overseas workers as the only jobs UK people are qualified to do is serve at fast food outlets or work in call centres.
Tim, UK

If you can secure a better standard of living for your family you'd be foolish not to do it J Leake, Leicester UK

This is not a new issue. It's part of the global shifts of educated and highly skilled professionals to countries where there they will receive salaries and benefits which exceed what they can receive at home. In the UK professionals move to the US, Australia and the Middle East. If you can secure a better standard of living for your family then you'd be foolish not to do it. As always it's the poor and the needy who always miss out.
J Leake, Leicester UK

I think the African governments are to be blame. If they make healthcare a priority in their countries and pay the professionals accordingly, there will not be the need for them to seek greener pastures(better pay) in the developed world. Until the governments put their houses in order, the brain drain will continue unabated.
Juanita, VA, USA

The UK is not damaging Africa's healthcare, sad to say. The governments who are charged with the role of leading the African countries have learnt too quickly how to make fast bucks from misuse of one's office. Hence the staff are not paid, or if paid, poorly. In the west today wages are magnet. Money motivates the move to the west.
D Morgan, Newport Pagnell

Not just the UK, but other commonwealth countries too. I'm a surgeon from South Africa working in the UK and both my brothers are doctors working abroad (Sydney, Toronto). The offer to work here was attractive, but the domestic employment options were also particularly unpleasant - the hours are longer, the working conditions are terrible, the wages are poor, there is a high degree of exposure to HIV/Aids, government policy is counterproductive and destructive. It's a mess, and after 10 years of trying to work in that environment I, and many other doctors, left because we were despondent, disappointed and distressed at the prospect of watching so many die when, given the resources, it was in our power to save them.
Mike, London, UK

First of all we are told we need people to fill the skills gap, now we are criticised for "poaching "foreign workers, can't have it both ways, are we meant to take the unskilled only, yet more political correctness trying to knock this country.
Mike, London, England

I must confess that every rich country in the world is damaging the Third World's healthcare by taking nurses. Even Singapore gets most of its nurses from Philippines and China since nursing is viewed as a 'low-class' job. Every country should try to raise the wage levels of hiring local nurses and make nursing a more attractive job for all. With doctors and nurses willing to flee their countries for higher wages overseas, something should be done to stop this. Depending too much on foreign nurses is something dangerous since nurses would just go anywhere that would be willing to pay a high salary.
Firdaus, Singapore

We have been poaching qualified staff at an unacceptable rate from the developing world for many years. In the case of doctors, this has been largely due to the obstinacy of the GMC that has consistently refused to increase the number of trainee places despite a chronic shortage of trained doctors in the UK! Only now that it is headline news has the number of trainee doctors been increased!
Simon Mallett, UK Maidstone

Of course it is and countless other countries as well. What do you expect when you try to get healthcare on the cheap? It will only get worse with more and more of the NHS being privatised. When it comes to a competition between shareholder profits, patient health and safety and developing counties needs, we all know who will win.
Vish, UK

UK politicians are always keen to talk about the wonderful contribution that immigrant workers make to the NHS but fail to mention this issue. They also fail to mention the core problem which is that so many of these vacancies are created because staff born and trained in the UK have to leave the NHS due to poor pay.
Griff, Cardiff, Wales

People will work wherever they can do best Rob H, UK

The situation is far more complicated than the bald statement might at first indicate. Firstly, the UK is training many of the African medical staff, and hence shouldn't we expect some pay-back for the training we provide. Secondly people will work wherever they can do best. Thirdly our own highly qualified medical staff are in great demand in other western nations, where they can get paid 2 or 3 times what they can here for a lower cost of living, so perhaps the government ought to pay medical staff more and cut out the overpaid untrained managers.
Rob H, UK

The fault is not with the UK's NHS, but with African governments that have consistently refused to channel their nations' already sparse resources towards improving the quality of healthcare available to their people. I can count on one hand the number of African nations that make either healthcare or education one of their top four areas of budgetary expenditure. I also know a Nigerian doctor who left the UK to come home to help salvage the system; he now deeply regrets his actions and is making serious efforts to return to the UK.
Afolabi A, Lagos, Nigeria

A doctor comes here from say Angola and works here and earns good money and when he goes back years later he goes back with valuable experience which they can use back home. if people are going to over analysis this situation then they need to study the effects for/against of all migration on the host and home countries. All migration has negative and positive effects for both host and home countries.
Phil, UK

This country doesn't train people is useful careers any more. Apprenticeships were abandoned decades ago. Everyone is taking the soft options now, our Universities are full of people studying Golf course or Hotel management. No wonder we have a skills shortage and rely on overseas countries to fill them.
Chris, Telford UK

Brain drain is yet another hurdle Africa must overcome Omorodion Osula, Boston, USA

The UK is doing a serious damage to Africa's healthcare. By wooing health professionals in Africa with huge sums of money, they are not only tempting people to accept the offers, but leave the people they cared for to the mercy of God. The UK government should come up with better incentives to lure people into the healthcare profession in order to stem the reliance on foreign professionals. Brain drain is yet another hurdle Africa must overcome.
Omorodion Osula, Boston, USA

How about a medical share scheme, the doctors and other medical staff could come and work here, and get English salaries which must help them sending home money to families etc. And then they could be flown back one or two weeks in each month.
Jules, Brighton, England

We can't win. If we employ African doctors and nurses we weaken Africa's healthcare. If we refuse to employ them we'll be prosecuted for racial discrimination. Those condemning us seem to want us to enforce a crazy immigration policy where we're expected to admit illiterate agricultural workers, but not educated professionals whose skills we need. I note no-one complains when a British doctor goes to work in South Africa, Australia or the USA.
Peter, Nottingham

This has been going on for years, and not just in the NHS, but all technical professions. And the biggest encouragement is the Government's abandoning of commitment to teaching "hard" subjects like engineering, the natural sciences and medicine at university, in favour of soft options. And that's a politically motivated decision based on producing more students, without regard for whether their studies are worthwhile.
Julia Hayward, St Neots, UK

What a short-sighted view to take. The UK may be poaching staff, but these people get paid better then they otherwise would and normally send the additional money home to their families.
Glen, Welling, UK

If these people want to leave Africa and we need the skills, should we stop them? Chris, UK

What do we do? Stop all immigration? If these people want to leave Africa and we need the skills, should we stop them? Global economics will always create this sort of problem.
Chris, UK

I guess it is not just Africa that could claim this. My wife is a private sector health professional and, since the recent EU expansion, she has seen an upturn in cheap labour from the new European countries - often at the expense of suitably qualified but more expensive UK nationals. It is obvious that workers will go where the money is best and employers will take the best option to keep staff overheads low/profits high. In the meantime "key workers" in the UK still claim they cannot afford to buy houses as they are underpaid. The only solution is to completely revise the financing of the NHS to make it financially viable to run and able to attract employees from the UK by giving them the necessary rates of pay.
Andy D, Oxford UK

Most of the medical students at my university will end up owing a huge amount of money when they graduate. It is not surprising that they then choose to go into the private sector or work abroad, in the US and Australia for example. The introduction of top up fees is going to make this problem worse. There need to be more incentives for newly qualified doctors to stay in the NHS, and not just replace them with doctors from countries that already have enough to worry about.
Kara, Imperial College, London

All countries have their own problems. Our own staff go to Canada and the US where they get better paid so we have no choice but to fill the ranks somehow.
Richard, London, UK