1192 



those who are expatriates and missionaries from the advanced coun- 

 tries of the West. 



The correlation of the imbalance in ratios of doctors-to-population 

 with apparent and declared social needs throws further light on 

 medical manpower deficiencies in the LDCs and the negative impact 

 of medical brain drain. That the medical needs of the LDCs are not 

 adequately satisfied is evident by the accumulated cases in the brain 

 drain literature. In 1963, Nigeria graduated 19 M.D.s from its one 

 medical school ; during the same year, 16 Nigerian doctors were work- 

 ing in American hospitals,*^^ in effect a net gain for Nigeria of only 

 three physicians. To comprehend the full meaning of these statistics, it 

 is important to bear in mind that in 1960 Nigeria had a total of only 

 1 ,777 doctors, or a ratio of 1 doctor for every 32,000.'*^* In the case of 

 Cameroon between 1961 and 1968, about 38 qualified Cameroonian pro- 

 fessionals remained in the United States. Of these professionals, nine 

 were medical scientists.*^^ At first glance this figure may seem insig- 

 nificant, but it is substantial when placed in the context of need : Only 

 47 native Cameroonian doctors were said to be practicing in their 

 country to serve a population of some 5.8 million — a ratio of 1 for 

 every 123,000.*=^ 



Similar cases have been recorded for Asia. In India, 60 percent of 

 the rural clinics in East Punjab (pop. 13.5 million) and presumably 

 elsewhere are unmanned by doctors, while nearly 10 percent of India's 

 medical doctors are working in foreign countries, mainly the United 

 States and the United Kingdom.*^^ On August 15, 1974, a report from 

 New Delhi appearing in The Christian Science Monitor disclosed that 

 recently 125 students graduated from a medical college in Gujarat, 

 north of Bombay, India; 85 of them promptly chartered a bus and 

 arrived several days later at the U.S. consulate in Bombay to apply for 

 visas. 



On one occasion, virtually the entire first graduating class of a new 

 medical school in Chiengmai, Thailand, chartered an airplane and 

 flew off to the United States.*^^ Thailand has a doctor-to-population 

 ratio of 1 for every 8,600.*^^ Moreover, one-fourth of Thailand's 4,000 



^ Testimony of Senator Mondale. Hearings, Senate Judiciary Committee, International 

 Migration of Talent and Skills, 1908, p. 87. 



*^ Report of U.N. Secretary General, Outfloto of Trained Personnel from LDCs, Now 5, 

 1968, p. 70. 



^^UNITAR. Brain Drain from Five LDCs, 1971, p. 117. Sixteen were engineers, 3 

 natural scientists, and 10 social scientists. 



45« Eren, op. cit., p. 10. One hundred were working in France. The small medical cadre 

 in Cameroon is evident by the few students studying abroad in 1969 : Canada. 9; France, 

 44; and the United States, 16. (UNITAR, Brain drain from five LDCs, 1971, p. 162.) 

 Cameroon has no medical school at its Federal University. Founded In 1962, the university 

 has faculties in law and economics, humanities, and science with a teaching staff of 260 

 and a student body of 3,277. The university library has only 40,000 volumes. In 1972, 

 the university began postgraduate courses. In 1969, the University Center of Healtii 

 Sciences was opened, and at the present time has 27 teachers and 132 students. Thus, 

 It would seem that Cameroon has the barest minimum of an institutional Infrastructure 

 for learning and must send its students abroad for any advanced training. By the same 

 token it can least afford the loss of any of its overseas intelligentsia, for it is axiomatic 

 in brain drain from the LDCs that the narrower the professional manpower base, the 

 greater the loss to the nation. Loss of a physician from an advanced country would 

 have little negative impact on medical services, but the same loss in Cameroon where 

 the need is great and the ratio very low could be devastating. For Information on 

 advanced education in Cameroon, see World of Learning, 1072-73 (London; Europa Pub- 

 lications Ltd., 1972), V. 1, p. 217. 



<5- iveport. Ditchleti Park Conference on Brain Drain, 1068. p. 16, and Report of U.N. 

 Secretary General, Outfloio of Trained Personnel from LDCs, Nov. 5. 1968, p. 40.74. 

 Punjab hns 768 medical institutions, includinc: 117 hospitals. 3 Avuyvedlc hospitals, 126 

 primary health centres and 522 dispensaries. The Stateman's Year-book, 1972-73 

 (London : Macmillan-St. Martin's, 1972). p. 378. 



««* Dublin, op. cit., p. 875. 



<5» Report of U.N. Secretary General, Outflow of Trained Personnel from LDCs, Nov. "^ 

 1968, 1 . 68. 



