Nigeria has been added to the UK’s “red list” of nations that businesses in the health and social care sector should avoid actively recruiting from.
Nigeria has been added to the UK’s “red list” of nations that businesses in the health and social care sector should avoid actively recruiting from.
One month prior, the World Health Organization classified Nigeria among the 55 nations with the most urgent workforce issues connected to universal health coverage.
Nigeria and other nations on the red list should not be actively sought out for employment by health and social care businesses, according to the United Kingdom Government, unless there is a government-to-government agreement.
The UK government’s website, “Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel in England,” provided the information that indicated country identification is done following the methodology outlined in the 10-year review of the applicability and efficacy of the WHO global code of practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.
“In line with the principles and articles of the WHO Global Code of Practice and as specifically called for by the WHO Global Code of Practice 10-year review, the listed countries should be given priority for developing their health workforce and receiving help with their health systems, with protections in place to stop them from actively hiring health workers from other countries.”
“Health and social care employers, recruitment organizations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies should not actively target or recruit from countries on the list unless a government-to-government agreement is in place to allow managed recruitment carried out strictly by the terms of that agreement.
“Countries on the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards list are graded red in the code. If a government-to-government agreement is put in place between a partner country, which restricts recruiting organisations to the terms of the agreement, the country is added to the amber list.”
It stated that a country is green if it is not on the red or amber list.
The red and amber nation list does not, however, prevent specific health and social care workers who reside in those nations from applying directly to health and social care employers without the assistance of a third party, such as a recruiting organization, agency, or recruitment corporation.
Kenya and Nepal are the amber-coloured nations, where hiring foreign workers is only permitted if it complies with the criteria of the G2G agreement.
A government-to-government agreement for the recruitment of foreign healthcare workforces between the UK and green-rated nations was also included in the statement.
“Green-graded countries without a government-to-government agreement with the UK are not published in the code of practice for England.
“The government-to-government agreement may set parameters, implemented by the country of origin, for how UK employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organisations, agencies, and collaborations recruit. These organisations are encouraged to recruit on the terms of the government-to-government agreement.
“The green country list will be updated as new government-to-government agreements are signed with the UK. It is recommended employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organisations, agencies, and collaborations regularly check the list for updates before embarking on any recruitment campaign.
“Green-graded countries with a government-to-government agreement for managing international health and care workforce recruitment are India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka,” it added.
