Pakistan sees record exodus of doctors amid low pay and poor conditions

A quiet exodus is unfolding across Pakistan’s hospitals and medical colleges, as thousands of doctors pack their stethoscopes and leave in search of dignity, stability and opportunity abroad.

As many as 4,000 doctors are estimated to have emigrated from the country in 2025 alone, marking one of the most significant waves of medical migration in Pakistan’s history.

A new big-data analysis by Gallup Pakistan, drawing on Bureau of Emigration records, reveals that between 3,800 and 4,000 doctors formally left the country last year. The figures, highlighted in an editorial in The News International, underscore a deepening crisis in a nation that produces roughly 22,000 new doctors every year and boasts around 370,000 registered medical professionals on paper.

Yet beneath these numbers lies a stark paradox. With a population nearing 250 million, Pakistan would require at least 250,000 practicing doctors to meet the World Health Organization’s benchmark of one doctor per 1,000 people. While official records suggest the country meets this threshold, the reality inside clinics and emergency wards tells a different story: many registered doctors are no longer practicing, and countless others are preparing to leave.

One of the most enduring fault lines runs through gender. According to a 2023 Gallup survey, 35 per cent of women medical doctors in Pakistan are not part of the workforce. Cultural expectations, social judgement and unsafe working environments continue to push many women out of the profession they trained for over years. For others, the daily struggle of commuting — especially during late or irregular hours amid Pakistan’s chaotic transport systems — proves too heavy a burden, forcing them to abandon medicine altogether or seek alternative careers.

Low pay remains another powerful driver of disillusionment. For many young doctors, salaries scarcely reflect the long hours, emotional toll and relentless pressure of their work. In earlier years, these frustrations spilled onto the streets as trainee and junior doctors staged protests, demanding safer conditions and fair compensation. Today, those demonstrations have largely faded — not because grievances have been resolved, but because successive governments have shown little inclination to listen, the editorial notes.

The strain is most visible in Pakistan’s cities, where healthcare facilities are heavily concentrated. Patients from far-flung regions are often forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to a handful of urban centres for treatment, overwhelming already fragile hospitals. The result is a system stretched to breaking point, where doctors and nurses are overworked, exhausted and increasingly demoralised.

Adding to the sense of stagnation is the limited availability of advanced medical infrastructure, research opportunities and modern training environments. For ambitious professionals eager to hone their skills, the absence of cutting-edge equipment and collaborative ecosystems at home stands in sharp contrast to the promise of technologically advanced healthcare systems abroad.

For many Pakistani doctors, migration is no longer a distant aspiration but a near-inevitable destination — a chance to practice medicine with adequate resources, fair pay and professional respect. What remains behind, critics warn, is a healthcare system hollowed out from within, struggling to care for millions as its healers quietly depart.

With IANS inputs