Economic woes cause brain drain

KARACHI - Due to terrorism and economic crisis, the highly qualified and brilliant people are forced to leave the country in search of better future in the West.
The initiative of Higher Education Commission (HEC) to convert brain-drain into brain-gain is also being damaged owing to inadequate policies of the new government.
However, thousands of MBBS graduates are produced annually from different medical colleges and universities in the country, while 50 to 60 per cent of the fresh graduates leave the country to pursue for better professional careers in foreign lands. Conversely, the feeling of insecurity is also compelling common man to migrate towards prosperous countries, including Canada, Australia, England, America, New Zealand, Germany and South Africa.
However, it is difficult to figure out how many Pakistanis are living abroad but it is roughly estimated that nearly six million of them have left the country for good.
According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia, figures from the 2001 Canadian Census indicate that there are about 75,000 Canadians who claim Pakistani ancestry. World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), in its study, has cautioned that in the health sector emigration hurts their ancestral homelands.
“As doctors, nurses and medical specialists continue to leave African, Asian and Caribbean countries, the health services, they leave behind become depressed and inadequate, especially in Africa, which is already suffering the rising toll of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases that kill and impair economic development,” it adds.
The studies also recommend that countries that are losing talent should set up more liberal and open regimes that create a positive environment for business and the well-educated persons could contribute for improvement of economy and the society at large.