RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MIGRATION AND HEALTH WORKERS IN LOKOJA, KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Migration involves the movement of people, especially whole groups from one place, country, or region to another with the intention to make permanent settlement in a new location. This paper presents results on the health workers out-migration in Lokoja Kogi State, Nigeria. The purposive sampling technique was used in the study. A set of 150 copies of well-structured questionnaires was administered to the respondents. The data was analyzed using frequencies and simple percentages. The results show that the majority of the respondents lived in high income residential areas. Respondents within the ages of 51-60 years 40(26.6%) have a significant majority of the respondents. 72% (Seventy two percent)  of the respondents were married and most of them representing 89.9% were with secondary and tertiary education. The majority of the households had 5-6 household members. About 97.3% of the respondents were aware of the health workers who have migrated to other countries for better life and 100.0% had intentions to migrate. At present, most of the health workers have left Nigeria for other countries for a period of 6-10 years. The number of health workers who are not satisfied with Doctor-patient ratio 70.6% and staff motivation 60.0% was quite high. The factors highly influencing out-migration of health workers were COVID-19 outbreak with 52.0%, work incentives 46.0% and limited occupational risk at destination country with a total of 54.0%. The study recommended upward review of salaries and improved work incentives of health workers.