The United Kingdom on Wednesday announced a new ‘Health and Care Visa’ policy that could attract the doctors, nurses and health workers in Nigeria and rest the world.
The UK halted visa issuance since the outbreak of COVID-19 but has now reopened the migration window for care professionals, social workers and their families, to bolster its National Health Service (NHS).
The new visa policy aims to make it cheaper, quicker and easier for healthcare professionals to come go to UK, beginning from August.
Findings show that UK is one of the leading destinations for migrating Nigerian health workers. Estimates have it that there are over 4000 Nigerian doctors in UK, spread across 83 sub-specialties.
The UK Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care had announced that the new Health and Care Visa would be launched this summer, creating a new fast-track visa route for eligible health and care professionals and delivering on a key manifesto commitment.