Nationality and country of training of medical doctors in Malawi

Background:There is growing interest in the migration of doctors from Africa to developed nations. Little attention has been made in understanding the flow of doctors into African countries. Objective:To describe the nationality, country of primary qualification as a doctor and specialties of doctors registered in Malawi in 2003. Methods: Review of Medical Council of Malawi 2003 register and University of Malawi-College of Medicine graduation records. Results:There were 252 doctors registered by the Medical Council of Malawi (MCM) of whom 51.2% were Malawian and 48.8% non-Malawian. 35.7% of the doctors had obtained their primary education in Malawi, 17.5% from the UK, 9.9% other African countries and 8.7% from other African countries.There were 72 specialists of whom 23 were Malawian nationals and 49 were non- Malawians. Conclusions:There is almost an equal distribution of national and non-national doctors in Malawi. However, among specialists, non-national far out-number Malawians by over two and a half times.While the brain drain of doctors from developing nations to developed nations has received interest, there is need also to explore the migration of doctors into resource-poor countries such as Malawi.