Mitigating the effects of brain drain: Physicians strengthening health systems in their countries of birth
World Telehealth Initiative (WTI) partners with many physicians around the world, from Ethiopia to Vietnam to Malawi and more. It’s common for physicians to move from countries with scarce medical resources to ones that are resource abundant. Each physician has their own reason for moving — to escape the effects of war, ensure a brighter future for their children, or pursue education or career opportunities.
Healthcare worker migration, known as “brain drain,” is not a new phenomenon but a complex one that affects health systems globally. One in five people with a university education in the lowest-income countries leaves for employment elsewhere, compared to one in 25 people in higher-income countries (UN).
WTI’s network of incredible volunteers includes many diaspora physicians (who emigrated from the country where they were born) that give back to their homeland. These dedicated volunteers expand healthcare access by supporting local clinicians and caring for patients in their birth countries. Here are just two stories of many:
Dr. Karim – Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dr. Halima Karim
Dhaka, Bangladesh is a megacity known for its rickshaws, tasty food, and beautiful art festivals. It also has some of the most polluted air in the world due to the large and dense population of 22 million people. 15,000 premature deaths and millions of cases of neurological, pulmonary, and respiratory illnesses in Dhaka were attributed to poor air quality (International Institute for Global Health).
Dr. Halima Karim grew up in Bangladesh and earned a scholarship to study neurology at the top medical school in Dhaka. After completing her education, she moved to California.
The medical staff at Filaria and General Hospital are pictured in front of the telehealth device shipping crate when it arrived.
Dr. Karim found herself longing to give back to Bangladesh after she left, where the need for neurology care is significant. “I feel compelled to serve my birth country and the poor people that I left behind. World Telehealth Initiative gave me the platform that I was looking for.”
WTI’s program in Dhaka supports Filaria and General Hospital by providing specialized patient care and medical training. In partnership with the Institute of Allergy and Clinical Immunology of Bangladesh, our volunteer physicians share their expertise in neurology, urology, psychiatry and more.
Dr. Karim is one of our dedicated volunteers who remotely provides neurology care in Dhaka. She believes that “this is the best and most economical way to give specialized care to poor people of Bangladesh from far away.”
Dr. Latif – Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir
Dr. Naeem Latif
Kashmir is a region in the Himalayas with breathtaking geography full of lakes, greenery, and snowcapped mountains. Dr. Naeem Latif grew up in a small remote town in the Kashmiri countryside. One time while he was young, he got a bad case of food poisoning. He was admitted to a nearby hospital and was disappointed with the medical care he received. Kashmir has poor healthcare infrastructure and a shortage of medical specialists, especially in rural areas. The region’s physician to population ratio is just one physician for every 3,866 people (Health and Human Rights Journal).
The Rawalakot community celebrates the inauguration of Latif Khan Memorial Cancer Hospital.
After his bad experience at the hospital, Dr. Latif was inspired to become a physician. He moved to the United States for his medical training in oncology and now lives in Pennsylvania with his family.
While practicing medicine in the United States, Dr. Latif still dreamt of providing healthcare for cancer patients in Kashmir. “I saw that it’s not a good health system, and cancer care is almost non-existent there.”
In 2019, Dr. Latif founded Latif Khan Memorial Cancer Hospital in Rawalakot, Kashmir to make cancer care more accessible for patients in need. WTI’s program enables Dr. Latif and his colleagues to see patients at the cancer hospital virtually from Pennsylvania.
When asked about the hospital's impact on the community of Rawalakot, he said, “it’s shown me how much a small thing can make a big difference.”