The United Kingdom (UK) has placed 54 countries on a red list where active recruitment for health and social care employers is prohibited.
The announcement was made in the revised code of practice for international recruitment of health and social care personnel, which was made available in England last month.
“Countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List are graded red, which means no active recruitment is permitted from these countries,” it said.
It stated that if a government-to-government agreement is signed between the UK and a partner country, UK employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organizations, agencies, and collaborations will be bound by the terms of the agreement.
“The country will be added to the amber list and recruitment can happen only on the terms of the agreement. The WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List is updated by WHO every 3 years, or more frequently if required,” it said.
The suspended countries are Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia.
Other countries are Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Federated States of Micronesia, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Republic of Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In the code, the United Kingdom defined active international recruitment as the process by which UK health and social care employers (including local authorities), contracting bodies, recruitment organizations, agencies, collaborations, and subcontractors target individuals to market UK employment opportunities with the intent of recruiting to a role in the UK health or social care sector.
It encompasses both physical and virtual targeting, as well as whether or not these actions result in substantive employment.
According to the General Medical Council, the number of Nigerian registered doctors in the UK grew by 82 percent to 10,660 in 2022 from 5,856 in 2018.
For nurses, it rose by 1,404.5 percent to 1,670 in April to September this year from 111 in the same period of 2018, according to the Nursing and Midwifery Council.