Daniyal Ahmed, Haroon Tariq, Faiqa Qazi, Hamza Hadi, Farishta Hamayun, Hadiqa Shafi.
Brain drain: intentions of house officers in specializing from Pakistan or abroad and its various influencing factors amongst medical graduates from Peshawar, Pakistan.
Northwest J Med Sci Jan ;2(3):20-4.

INTRODUCTION: Brain drain is defined as the immigration of highly qualified health professionals from low- income countries to high-income affluent countries in pursuit of a better & safer quality of life. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the magnitude of migratory intentions of House Officers of four main tertiary care hospitals based in Peshawar, Pakistan. METHODOLOGY: The research design for this study was a cross sectional study which was carried out in four tertiary care hospitals of Peshawar KPK. The duration of this study was 5 months from March - July 2022. Data was collected through convenient sampling and 195 participants were involved in filling a self-structured questionnaire. RESULTS: The results of this study revealed that out of 195 respondents 104(53.3%) intended to go abroad for specialization while 91(46.67%) opted to stay in Pakistan.The study also showed that out of 195 medical graduates 104(53.3%) opted for abroad in which 32(31.37%) preferred to go United States, 62(60.78%) preferred United Kingdom and 8(7.84%) preferred other countries (Australia and Canada) for post graduate training. 48.6% males and 59.3% females have intentions for going abroad with a p value of 0.138 which is not significant; implying that the there is no difference between males & females in selecting their career choice. CONCLUSION: The findings of our research highlight the reasons behind the immigration of medical graduates. When large number of graduates are going abroad there would be its implications on healthcare and academic policies. This study can help government to make appropriate policies to address brain drain. On basis of data collected if there is economic stability, better training facilities and attractive salary packages are being provided by state of Pakistan then there will a decrease in the number of house officers migrating abroad. KEYWORDS: House officers, Specialization, Brain drain, Residency

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