ArticlePloS one2010
International migration of doctors, and its impact on availability of psychiatrists in low and middle income countries.
Article in PloS one, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed.
- Development and Validation of the Motivations for Selection of Medical Study (MSMS) Questionnaire in India.PloS one · 2016Trial
- The global and domestic in policy: Impacts on medical education and migration.Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2026Review
- Transforming healthcare: evaluating a decade of postgraduate training at the Liberia College of Physicians and Surgeons.Human resources for health · 2026Article
- Healthcare professionals on the move: understanding the drivers of migration from Türkiye - a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Global Disparities in Mental Health Systems: A Comparative Cross-sectional Study of Ten Countries with Different Income Levels.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Factors affecting the migration intention in medical students in Shiraz; south of Iran: a cross sectional study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Integration experiences of internationally educated diagnostic radiographers working in the UK.PloS one · 2025Article
- Factors influencing the intention of doctors to emigrate: a cross-sectional study of Ghanaian doctors.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Article
- Factors Affecting Brain Drain and a Solution to Reduce it in Iran's Health System: A Qualitative Study.Archives of Iranian medicine · 2024Article
- "The peace that I wanted, I got": Qualitative insights from patient experiences of SMART DAPPER interventions for major depression and traumatic stress disorders in Kenya.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Workforce migration and brain drain - A nationwide cross-sectional survey of early career psychiatrists in Nigeria.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
- Anaesthesia provision challenges in public hospitals of Pakistan's Punjab province: a qualitative study of expert perspectives.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Down the brain drain: a rapid review exploring physician emigration from West Africa.Global health research and policy · 2023Review
- Specialty preferences of studying-abroad medical students from low- and middle-income countries.BMC medical education · 2023Article
- Are We Facing a Radical Change in the Migration Behavior of Medical Graduates from Less Developed Countries? Demographic Profile vs. Social Push Factors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Scope of health worker migration governance and its impact on emigration intentions among skilled health workers in Nigeria.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Utility of the Right to Health for Addressing Skilled Health Worker Shortages in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.International journal of health policy and management · 2022Article
- The need for more medical schools in medically underserved regions in Africa.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2022Article
- Adolescent Health Series: The status of adolescent mental health research, practice and policy in sub-Saharan Africa: A narrative review.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMigration of health professionals from low and middle income countries to rich countries is a large scale and long-standing phenomenon, which is detrimental to the health systems in the donor countries. We sought to explore the extent of psychiatric migration.
methodsIn our study, we use the respective professional databases in each country to establish the numbers of psychiatrists currently registered in the UK, US, New Zealand, and Australia who originate from other countries. We also estimate the impact of this migration on the psychiatrist population ratios in the donor countries.
findingsWe document large numbers of psychiatrists currently registered in the UK, US, New Zealand and Australia originating from India (4687 psychiatrists), Pakistan (1158), Bangladesh (149), Nigeria (384), Egypt (484), Sri Lanka (142), Philippines (1593). For some countries of origin, the numbers of psychiatrists currently registered within high-income countries' professional databases are very small (e.g., 5 psychiatrists of Tanzanian origin registered in the 4 high-income countries we studied), but this number is very significant compared to the 15 psychiatrists currently registered in Tanzania). Without such emigration, many countries would have more than double the number of psychiatrists per 100,000 population (e.g. Bangladesh, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon); and some countries would have had five to eight times more psychiatrists per 100,000 (e.g. Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Nigeria and Zambia).
conclusionsLarge numbers of psychiatrists originating from key low and middle income countries are currently registered in the UK, US, New Zealand and Australia, with concomitant impact on the psychiatrist/population ratio n the originating countries. We suggest that creative international policy approaches are needed to ensure the individual migration rights of health professionals do not compromise societal population rights to health, and that there are public and fair agreements between countries within an internationally agreed framework.
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